With all three of our daughters living east of the Mississippi, we were on our own this year for Thanksgiving. Shonna and Blake traveled from Ohio to be with Michelle in Virginia, so at least they were together (they blessed baby Jaron this morning.) Our good neighbors, the Sonjus kindly included us in their Thanksgiving dinner. We felt so blessed to be with their wonderful, fun-loving extended family
The Sonjus
Macy with her Great-Grandpa
. We had a delicious dinner, then participated in their tradition of the "thankful tree." Each person wrote on a leaf what they are thankful for and put it on the tree.
That evening, I got a huge shock. Ken announced that he wanted to go to Walmart's Black Friday that was really on Thursday night. His computer chair was in sad, sad shape and Walmart had one for about 75% of what I paid for mine. Though I hate Walmart on even a normal day, I was excited to shop with my husband. We had NO idea what we were in for. As we drove to the store, Ken said, "Where are all these cars going at 10:00pm on a holiday?" We soon realized we were ALL headed to Walmart. The parking lot was completely full, with all neighboring parking lots also full. Ken found a spot out on the street. In normal Ken fashion, he wanted to divide and conquer. Mistake. We each just had a couple of items we wanted to get. One of mine was video games. Ha! Ha! The video game palettes were set up in the produce. The frenzied crowd in front of them was huge and shouting. I watched in horror as people screamed and dove for games that were being thrown out. Awesome! I decided I could live without new games for the Wii. Especially since Kristen called just before we left to go as she was on her way home from her Walmart sale. She told me, "Be careful, Mom." A man in her Walmart was trampled trying to pick up video games and was hauled out on a stretcher. And this all in celebration of the Savior's birth? Something's wrong with this picture. We called each other on our cell phones to check out, but there were so many people, I couldn't get to him. I waited until the checkout line, and I use the term loosely, finally brought him to me. It was absolute madness. It took forever to get to a cash register, but we finally got out of there without a scratch. And Ken now has a beautiful new computer chair that doesn't lose a wheel or two every time he sits on it. 
That is a cultural experience everyone needs to do once- but only once. We've had our turn! I'm grateful we lived to tell about it!
The sorry old chair:
5 comments:
I'm so glad you didn't have to spend Thanksgiving alone. How nice that your neighbors included you in their celebrations. When you texted that you were going to Black Friday I didn't know you were going to Walmart. You are crazy =) Good job getting the deal though. Tom and Whitney went to Target at midnight, saw the parking lot and line out front and turned around and came home. No "deal" for me is worth standing in line forever and being clawed and scratched a long the way. You deserve a medal ;)
What a nice Thanksgiving meal! I kind of hate how Black Friday has become a bigger "holiday" than Thanksgiving-- I'm with you, I'll stay away next year, thanks. :)
I agree w/ Sara. Glad you lived to tell about the new chair. And so glad the Sonjus had you over.
Oh my goodness, Kay! Some of that younger generation Stratfords hit those all night sales and told wild stories the next day. I don't think Black Friday (perhaps Black is a clue) is a forward change in society. This has all come about since we were raising our kids and thinking we needed that certain toy, and on a super sale.
So glad you had a nice Thanksgiving. We had about 20 (an off year) at Grandma Stratfords, and she did most the cooking - over 100 rolls, 4 kinds of pies, the turkey, dressing, gravy, yams, etc. We got there Tuesday night and helped her with what she would let us. She is 86 and still going so strong!
I loved the pictures...the Sonjus, the thankful tree and, of course, the chair. Lol. Thanks for sharing the hilarious Black Friday story! Sure love you!
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