Thursday is the New Black Friday

I have never participated in any of the Black Friday shopping hoopla. Ever.

Well... There were those few years during college that I worked in retail, so I was often scheduled to work during the big kick-off to Christmas shopping. It is different being on the cash register side of the check-out stand. It is a simpler, kinder, and gentler role than that of the hunter of the bargains. Black Friday (as we know it today) didn't even really exist back then. Or if it did, I must have blocked it from my memory.

A quick Google fact-check revealed that the term "Black Friday" originated in the 1960s in Philadelphia, but the use of the phrase didn't become widespread until decades later. 

When I was a kid, department stores would maybe open up at 9 AM the morning after Turkey Day. Or 8 AM would have been a really early start. Store openings got earlier and earlier until finally, in 2011, several retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Kohl's opened up at midnight. This was an unprecedented, bold move. Not to be outdone, Walmart opened at 8 PM on Thanksgiving Day the following year. (As a side note, you could not pay me to go to a W-Mart on Thanksgiving Day, or the day after, or the day after that! It is not going to happen. IT. IS. NOT. WORTH. IT.) This year, many stores opened at 6 PM on Thanksgiving Day. Next year, we might find that these retailers simply never close. Maybe they will start serving turkey dinner with all the trimmings to bargain hunters and huntresses. Then again, maybe not. This might encourage food fights.

Soooo, I suppose I can still claim B. Friday non-participation, even though I did take my youngest daughter shopping. We opted to go at 8 PM on Thursday, so TECHNICALLY we didn't shop on Black Friday.

My dearest sister is the one who originally agreed to take the teens shopping, then I half-heartedly agreed to go along. We thought that perhaps these two girlies would be dissuaded from future B. Friday excursions if they saw firsthand how crowded and not-worth-the-effort getting "malled" really is. And the hope was that the price reductions really wouldn't be all that great.

Miss Millie and her friend Mak were quite eager to find some of the AWESOME deals like the ones that their friends had boasted about finding during last year's Black Friday shopping conquests. (These stories could have been exaggerated, of course; kind of like a fisherman's big fish tales...) It's true, there were a few good deals out there, but the checkout lines were r-e-a-l-l-y long. For me, it is not worth waiting in a long line with irritated shoppers if I'm only going to save a few bucks.

There were a few department stores and small specialty shops that did not open up for the craziness. I applaud their stance on keeping a holiday a holiday. I made sure to take note of those stores so I could go back at a later date to give them my support. 

Our evil plan did not work quite as well as we had hoped. Despite battling the crush of humanity (and countless human oddities on parade), the girls had a blast and found some pretty good deals. Look at those smiles. Yes, we survived. And it was fun getting to hang out with these two.

As for checking things off of my shopping list, I am loading up the Amazon sleigh and letting the nice folks at UPS, Fed-Ex and the USPS do all my delivering. I think I'm more of a Cyber Monday kind o' gal.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving 2014

We had place settings for 17 guests and enough food for 40. That can only mean one thing: LEFTOVERS! There was simply too much good food. 

The Avocado Queen got the "feastivities" started by creating an incredible guacamole appetizer bar. Olé!

From vegan offerings to gluten free options, there was something for just about everyone. Of course, there was something in the meat family. One turkey was grilled and the second bird was prepared in the oven using traditional methods. What a feast! The best part was spending time together preparing the food. I think that every single person present had some part in getting the meal ready. That saying about "too many cooks spoiling the broth" just ain't true! "Many hands make light work" just might be a more accurate description.

Lots o' Thompsons and the five Smiths were able to pose for a big ol' group shot.

Can you tell we are related?!

 Texas Thompsons

 Smith seesters 

St. Louis Thompsons

One of our annual Thanksgiving traditions is to have our guests write what they are thankful for on our chalkboard. We didn't get 100% participation this time around, but I think this list pretty well sums up what everyone is grateful for. And then there's my son who always has to be silly. Can you guess which item is his? Last year, toilet paper was on the list. This year, he is enjoying a gluten-laden diet. 

We should all count our blessings and give thanks every day; however, I'm thankful that we don't have such huge meals every day -- in terms of preparation AND cleanup, as well as consumption of far too many calories. I'm just thankful I can still zip up my jeans after all the celebration. 

About Face

We had no idea what we would be doing when we volunteered to help with a community Thanksgiving festival in west Dallas. Our church had twenty-ish people show up to lend a hand. We signed up to be on the set-up crew, but we got put to work making balloon animals and doing face painting. We know nothing about either of these things! One of my friends who was there volunteering saved our bacon -- she has mad face painting skills. 

Many families arrived an hour early, so it was up to us to keep the kids entertained until the meal was served. Our balloon animal creations were rather lame, but the kids were forgiving. It was all about the face.

This little girl simply stole my heart, as she is so precious. She was pleased that I wanted to do a mini photo shoot of her with her painted face. These are my two favorite shots of the day.

 One little girl wanted to try her hand at face art. She is way too cute!

She drew on both of us. Millie is a star and I'm a heart.

Our budding "junior artist" also painted this message on her big sister's hand. It says, "I love Jesus" because the heart stands for love and the cross represents Christ. She had to tell me what it said, and she was quite emphatic about it! I LOVE it!!!

Our friends Izumi and Jana should've also gotten stars drawn on their faces for figuring out how to make balloon giraffes and dogs. (We also perfected making balloon fish and snakes.) Thanks to these two and their patience and creativity, Millie and I can now add balloon artist to our résumés! HA!