I have joined the crazy people

This is the first year I have taken to the Day After Thanksgiving Sales. I always look at the ads, but there has never been anything to drag myself out of bed at those unmentionable hours of the morning. (I grew up in a house where you never went shopping on this day; no matter what you needed.)

This year something caught my eye.

I had written off what I wanted to get the kids on account of our almost month-long vacation. But there it was in the ad paper, and here I went. I got up just after 3am. So I could be in line at 4am. In the cold and sprinkling rain. I'm standing there, with tons of other people. (I'm not at the front of the line either.) I'm thinking to myself, "What am I doing?"

The the doors opened and mass chaos ensued; I'm sure most of you out there have gone through this before. Anyway, by some miracle, I got what I wanted. Almost everything, but definitely the main thing. (They were gone within one minute, for sure.) I have to say, it was fun too. I really enjoyed it. I went to two stores, standing in line before they were open at both. I was home by 6:15am, everyone is still asleep. I am virtually done with the holiday shopping. Only little random things are left. I don't have any money for groceries, but whatever, there's still a little bit of turkey left.

Oh, I was quite surprised at how many people I saw out there in the trenches that I knew.