Early Bird Specials

I love Thanksgiving. Not so much for the holiday or the food, but because I know the "Day-After Thanksgiving Sales are coming. So, after being totally stuffed yesterday, I went to my mom's and stayed overnight. My brother and his girlfriend, Lara, are here from Chicago for the holiday. We all got up at 5 a.m. after staying up until after 2a.m. chatting. My sister Lorraine and I went to Menards, while Gene and Lara went to Sears early.

Menards had pack of 40 AA batteries for $2 each. And knowing the way my family uses up batteries, I couldn't pass that deal up. Lorraine and I found a few other things after about 20 minutes of shopping and got into the checkout line. The lines were so long, it was an hour and 20 minutes before we actually checked out and got back to the car. Gene and Lara had the same wait time in line at Sears, only to be told the TV they went in for was sold out. We met up with each other, went to a few more stores, had breakfast, shopped more, and went home to play a few games of Scrabble. It was a great day.

I think what made the day so great was not the savings or even the anticipation of Christmas, but the chance I got to hang out with my family. Even though we don't always agree on everything, and we don't see each other often, they are very important to me, and I hope we get many more opportunities like this one.