Black Friday, November 28, 2008. Sami’s first experience with 4 am shopping. Let me explain. For those of you who know me know this is not typical of my behavior. I got a few ads in the mail and I saw that there were some good deals on things we actually needed. So I thought I’d go down to the local Wal Mart and take advantage of the deals. I just figured when I woke up I’d go. Keri got me up at 4am for a feeding so at 4:15 when she was all done I figured I might as well go then as any other time. So I got dressed and got to the store by about 4:40am. I was just going to stay in the car till the store actually opened but when I saw the carts almost gone I figured I should grab one and get in line. At this point one line wrapped around the store and the other one just had a mass of humanity gathered around the door. I choose the less crowded route and went for the door with people just hanging around instead of lined up all the way around the building. Things were fairly calm until about 10 minutes till 5. Masses of people started showing up. About 2 minutes to 5 people started yelling the people inside to open the doors (at this point I start getting nervous). At 30 seconds to door opening people just moved in masses toward the door. As soon as the doors opened I was sure someone was going to get trampled. People were yelling and pushing and it was not a happy place to be!! At one point a very big black dude yelled above the crowd that his wife was up at the front and if she got trampled he was going to trample the crowd. I finally made it through the entrance and was relieved to find the p.j.’s right up front, didn’t have to go far, yay!! But that in and of itself was interesting. People just started tearing into displays looking for the right size and character etc…. I couldn’t believe what was going on. Not fun really. An experience I can now say that I’ve had but will not do again. The things I wanted would have lasted till later in the morning, I could have arrived at 6 am and been just fine! After standing in line for 30 minutes to pay I got back to my car at 6am. I wanted to go to the half price bookstore. They were giving away a $5 gift card to the first 100 customers. But they didn’t open till 7. Since I didn’t have anything else to do I went over there. They happen to be right next door to a JoAnn fabrics. So when I got to the bookstore and there were 3 people in line I figured I’d go check out JoAnn’s. Such a different experience. They had good sales on fabric. There were a lot of people in the store, but they were all calm, waiting in line, being courteous and nice. They each had a good 6 bolts of fabric in their arms and patiently waiting their turn to have their fabric cut. I would have gotten some fabric but I didn’t want to wait behind all those other ladies, and I might have missed out on the bookstore. So I went back over and got in line at the bookstore. I was number 6. Again, a totally different line of people. A couple of teenagers came with one of their dad’s and stood behind me. They were so fun to talk to. The kind if teenagers I want my daughters to be!! They were totally down to earth, total book warms and just fun to be around. The dad was pretty funny too! He was one of 9, 6 brothers and 2 sisters. He was the baby. He told some very interesting stories. Anyway, by the time the store opened I was number 10 in line. That was fine. No one pushed going in, no yelling or pushing or anything. It was so nice. I got my $5 and some books and was home by 8:15am. While I was gone, Scott got all the kids up and fed them breakfast. We got them dressed and loaded up all the left overs and headed to mom’s. We wanted to spend Thanksgiving with them, but it’s just easier to cook in my own kitchen. So we decided we’d come up the next day and bring the leftovers. It was fun to see them and enjoy their company. Everyone enjoyed the leftovers and the relaxing day at grandma’s. We helped grandma decorate for Christmas and we watched White Christmas. It was fun to get into the spirit of Christmas. We stayed until 8:30pm and then came home. Scott was pretty wiped out so I drove. I was not as pleased with the music selection on the radio. But we got home safe and happy. I was pretty tired by the time we pulled in so I nursed Keri and went straight to bed!
Terrific Thompsons
Our Amazing Kids
A Legacy of Faith
Jan Lorene Ackerman May25,1950-July 15, 2010
“We do not doubt our mothers knew it.” (Alma 56:48)
Oh Sami, you are a brave woman! The crowd mentality is scary huh. Thankfully, nothing bad happened while you were there like the guy who got killed at a Walmart (can you believe that?). I went to the same Walmart about 8:30 that morning and I could tell it was a madhouse that morning. I’m with you, I can’t imagine doing that every year.
Glad you guys had fun at your Mom’s too. Christmas is really coming fast.