The thrill of the hunt...

We are a hunting family. My boys can rarely be seen daylight hours from October thru December. Some of my favorite memories of growing up were made walking through the woods with my grandpa. And I even had my very own deer stand made this year (more in effort to wanting to stay warm and dry than a serious place to hang my glowing orange hat.)

Today was my day. I spent last night preparing for the trip. I woke up long before the crack of dawn this morning. I gathered my gear and slipped stealthly out the door, careful not to wake the sleeping baby and husband.

Did I mention I was BARGAIN hunting? I am a Black Friday FANATIC!!!

Pouring through sales ads is the highlight of my Thanksgiving after-meal afternoon. My cousins and I have a special notebook we have dubbed the "Clipboard of Deals." We carefully find the cheapest prices on what we are looking for and plan our attack according to location and store opening times, taking into consideration availability of items, of course.

I also need to confess that we wake up early and endure the madness mostly for pure entertainment purposes. There is nothing like the scream of the crowd in Walmart at 5 a.m. when the unwrap the guarded pallets of super cheap televisions. Watching a lady cry tears of joy when she finds the last abandoned baby doll laying on some random shelf after she had given up hope is better than seeing the first moon walk. Not to mention the fighting. Surely someone else gets a little amused seeing two grown people play tug-of-war over Tickle Me Elmo.

Mostly the bargains are in vain as we spent too much gas driving to stores we never go to or standing in lines that are hardly worth the saved cash. To those of you who were out there with me...I hope you had as much fun as I did (and I hope you got those $4 jogging suits and $10 nerf guns.) And if you were warm and dry in your bed this cold, rainy morning at 4 a.m., you really had the right idea-but I hope to see you next year!

P.S....Let me know your best bargain of the day...
Mine was the digital camcorder (finally we are moving out of the 1990's) from Walmart. Cute, tiny, and super cool!!! Brad really outdid himself this year on my Christmas gift-and never stepped foot into the store!