Black Friday

Yep. My mom and I are a pair of the "crazies" that go out on Black Friday. Early. Like, we get up at 4am, she picks me up at 5am, we're at the store by 5:15am, not home until around 2pm....

But in all honesty, we actually shop the day after Thanksgiving more for the entertainment value than the merchandise deals that are out there. Don't get me wrong, there are great deals and we do take advantage of them. But if you've never ventured out on Black Friday, you're really missing out on a great show. The things some people do to save $20 is amazing.

The key is to start the day with the right mind set. We know it's going to be crazy, the lines will be long, and there will be people EVERYWHERE. If you go in expecting it and relaxed about everything, the day turns out to be quite fun. We have a system for how it works: we first make a bet on how long the check-line will take, then alternate who stands in line while the other one shops, all the while making friends with those in line around us.

We went to the mall for the first time this year, which we previously had sworn we wouldn't do because we thought that's where the real die-hards would be and, well, we feared for our lives. However, this couldn't have been further from the truth. I'm not sure if it was because of the economy, or because it was really cold out, but there were hardly any people there at 5:15am. We had already bought our first gift at Macy's and dropped it back off at the car by 5:30am. We even had time to stop and look up at all the news helicopters circling the mall. I waved. Mom laughed.

It started getting a tad busy around noon-time, and when we found out that the Target parking lot was 10 times worse than the mall, we called it quits. Another Black Friday in the books.

If you've never done it, you should try it at least once. You may just get hooked like we did.