Black Friday Changes

It's strange how much Black Friday has changed over the past few years.  It used to be that everyone got up well before dawn on the Friday after Thanksgiving to get to the stores before they opened.  Individual stores started to open earlier and earlier to attract more shoppers.  Soon Black Friday wasn't even the best shopping day of the holiday season as many stores opened on Thanksgiving night.  There was definitely a time when we would clean up from our family dinner and head to Target and the University Park Mall just as the sun set on turkey day.  

Doug and I stopped our annual Thanksgiving day shopping trip five or six years ago when we realized that the crowds were too much for us.  Some of our children still went, but our family's enthusiasm for shopping on the holiday waned.  During the past few years, Cameron and Meg still went shopping, but only on Black Friday.  This year I was excited to join them, especially with so many of our favorite stores only ten minutes away.  The experience was definitely different than what I remembered.  The stores still had shoppers, but the sales weren't quite what they used to be.  That made sense as I had read that retailers were focused on discounts throughout the month of November instead of just on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Even though it was different than in years past, the three of us still had fun and found some great items just the same.  

Brett joined us for the first hour of our trip, but then met Doug and Cal at the movie theater.  Cal had suggested going to see the new Napoleon movie instead of shopping.  They were all glad that they went, but thought that the movie left a lot of holes in Napoleon's story.  

Late this afternoon, the six of us headed to the World Equestrian Center.  It was opening night of their WEC Winter Wonderland.  We walked through the light displays, shops, and hotel enjoying all of the festivities.  Everything was beautiful, but I loved the purple ornamented tree the most.  

After the WEC, we headed downtown for dinner at Bank Street Patio Bar & Grill.  It was warm enough to eat outside and the food was delicious.  We stopped at Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop before heading home to play Chameleon with Uncle Phil.  It was a fun evening for all and the chocolate covered red fish were a lot better than anyone thought that they would be.