A Different Surprise

The trees weren’t in place when I got home last night. So much for my surprise.

But wait -- the mother still had one in store, just not the one I thought. (I think I've just defined surprise, without really trying to.) Without thinking last Friday, she had initially told Lawrence to come back this Friday, which is, of course, Black Friday, the Superbowl of Shopping. (Which is what I immediately told her when she said this to me.)

All weekend she would offhandedly ask, “Well, what do we really need?” If I would say stuff, she’d inevitably ask, “Like what?”

The correct answer here is nothing. Not one single solitary thing do we need to go out after. But, ever since I’ve been able to do it, I have. (At the paper, we were never allowed to take off at the holidays due to shortened deadlines. At my current job, the day after Thanksgiving is a holiday.) I always thought people who went out in the early morning hours of the day after Thanksgiving were stark-raving loonies. After my first time or two out, and adding up how much additional money I saved, I stopped thinking that way.

There always seems to be something that we want to check out or buy. We always end up finding things we weren’t really looking for but at an incredible price. Or, an already purchased Christmas gift becomes a birthday present if we find something seasonal. Stuff like that mostly.

And for me, clothes. I can never find clothes. So, when I do find them, I buy them. It’s kind of like buying our own Christmas presents. That is always fun.

So all weekend the mother danced around the idea, backed away from it, and at one point, flat out said she wasn’t going. Bummer. What she didn’t know: I’m still going!

Then, last night, she casually says: “Lawrence is coming Saturday. I called him and told him that we were going shopping Friday because you want to shop on Black Friday.” (Yeah. Just me. I’m the only one interested in it. Uh-huh.)

I’ve been checking out Black Friday ads. There’s an awesome site, appropriately named BlackFriday.info that has a whole bunch of the sale ads for various stores on Friday.

This year, the sales start early. As in way earlier than I like. 5 a.m. is bad enough, and that’s standard for most years. This year? Kohl’s is opening at 4 a.m.! Unbelievable. Will we be there at 4? I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out.

But you know I'll end up at The Home Depot and/or Lowe's at some point, don't you? Game on.