The Black Friday “Team”

Black Friday is one of my favorite days of the year apart from Christmas. I love the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and Black Friday is such a fun day to be out in it all! (If you’re into that sort of thing, that is!)

Over the years, stores have changed their operating hours and most are open on Thanksgiving Day now. We’ve done the overnight shopping thing where we started at 10 p.m. or midnight on Thanksgiving Day and shopped into the next day. This year, most stores opened their doors on Thanksgiving afternoon and to be honest, we just didn’t have it in us. Spending time with family was the #1 important thing on all of our lists, so we decided instead to wake up super early on the official Black Friday day and begin our shopping excursions from there.

There was one exception to this, however. If you remember from years past, I’ve been collecting JCPenney Mickey snow globes since the tradition started back in 2001. This year, JCPenney began handing their snow globes out at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, so I drove into town and stood in line for a few minutes, waiting on the doors to open.

My mom met us after she got off work.

When the doors opened, instead of being handed snow globes, we were given coupons. We asked several people where the snow globes were located (in the past, they’ve been handed out at the door) and we were told that we had to first make a purchase in order to receive the globe. No worries – I had a few kids to buy for so I did just that and was in and out of JCPenney in under 20 minutes! Mission accomplished!

Black Friday morning was when the real fun began!

We’ve been talking about making shirts for years! This year, we finally decided to make it happen!

Most of these ladies spent the night at my house and we began our day around 4:30 a.m. First stop was at Starbucks for breakfast and coffee!

I had my coffee and I was ready to shop!

When I say that the stores were “dead” at 5 a.m. ON Black Friday, I mean it.

This was taken at Walgreens. I was asked to watch my friend’s purse and I had to laugh at the lack of people in the store. Kohl’s was the same way – we were able to get in right in line to checkout with no wait.

Great deals AND no waiting in line? I love it! (Around 10 a.m., we noticed the crowds picking back up again, which made us glad that we started early!)

Guys, I LOVE this thing! If you’re a runner, you need this. It massages your calves and feet and feels AMAZING.

We had fun shopping and goofing off at the mall, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Best Buy, but we were in Target when “it” happened.

I momentarily separated from my friends and when I met back up with them, I asked if they noticed the news camera near the women’s clothing. They said yes and they saw the reporter filming a few clothing items. I thought it was strange to see them out because – again, literally – the stores were dead. All of the “crazy” things and crowds happened the night before.

After stopping to say hello to a another friend, we saw the reporter pass by – we made eye contact and said hello. She also said hello and started to continue on her way, then she did a double take. “Hi ladies! I’m with the local news station…anyone want to be on TV?”

Before we could even take a breath to respond, Melissa’s hand was in the air! It was hilarious!

She then asked if more of us would be willing to speak, because she wanted to use our “story” for the 6 p.m. news. Of course we said yes, and just like that, we were on our way to our 30 seconds of fame!

We didn’t have a buggy at first, so we piled all of our merchandise on the floor.

After speaking with each of us, she followed me to find a buggy.

This was so strange. I felt like I was on reality TV! Hah!

We filmed a few speaking segments with Monica and a few shopping shots, then we said our goodbyes!

We finished shopping around 4 p.m., (AND got a lot of good deals), then returned to my house for coffee while waiting on the 6 p.m. news.

Texting family and friends to watch!

To make things even better, were were one of the “top stories” of the evening. Sounds like there wasn’t much else going on around town to me…haha!

Did I mention that Black Friday was also Jason’s birthday? Well, we were finally all together for our official Thanksgiving meal as a family and we took a little time to celebrate Jason’s birthday as well!

(He bought this for himself on Black Friday….but don’t tell anyone!)

If you're interested in seeing our news clip, check it out here.

What a fun and memorable Black Friday, we had! I don’t know if another could ever top this one!!

Are you a Black Friday shopper? What do you think of the crowds?

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