Seeing that I had a slow start to the holidays I decided I should do something completely different to kick start myself. I let my older two children talk me into going to a local mall's shopping event for the Friday after Thanksgiving. That in itself is not a big deal. But when the event begins at 1:00am and you get their two hours ahead of time to be one of the first 500 to receive a free "goody bag", then we are talking drastic!!!
We were excited to see that we were within the first 150 people. We enjoyed interesting conversation with the other eager shoppers waiting in line. There was an occasional blast of music, or a man juggling fire rings for our entertainment as we stood out there and shivered. My motivation was the promise of lots of warm coffee awaiting me from Starbucks.
Unfortunately as the "goody bags" were dispersed a section of about 50 people were missed, you guessed it, we were in that group. Oh well, I still had my latte to look forward to. After all, I was bonding with my teenager and pre-teen, right?
When the awaited hour arrived, we were again disappointed when a large group of people who had not been there as long as us was let in another entrance first. It was okay, our line was moving. Once inside the mall, I told the kids we were making a bee-line for Starbucks. I was not the only one with that idea!! The line had a one hour wait withing 15 minutes of the mall opening. So it was off to do some bargain hunting.
I must say, I was really surprised at the number of people in the mall that night (I mean morning). The stores were completely jammed with people.
We ran into some friends and decided to let the initial craziness settle down while we ate in the food court. We left at 3:30am with only one small purchase, full tummies, but still no Starbucks.
I am not sure I would choose that experience again, but I achieved my initial goal, that of kicking myself into the holiday spirit. Since then, I have succeeded in decorating the house, and finishing all of my shopping. I can coast now and enjoy the true blessing of this time of year.
Blessing to all,
We were excited to see that we were within the first 150 people. We enjoyed interesting conversation with the other eager shoppers waiting in line. There was an occasional blast of music, or a man juggling fire rings for our entertainment as we stood out there and shivered. My motivation was the promise of lots of warm coffee awaiting me from Starbucks.
Unfortunately as the "goody bags" were dispersed a section of about 50 people were missed, you guessed it, we were in that group. Oh well, I still had my latte to look forward to. After all, I was bonding with my teenager and pre-teen, right?
When the awaited hour arrived, we were again disappointed when a large group of people who had not been there as long as us was let in another entrance first. It was okay, our line was moving. Once inside the mall, I told the kids we were making a bee-line for Starbucks. I was not the only one with that idea!! The line had a one hour wait withing 15 minutes of the mall opening. So it was off to do some bargain hunting.
I must say, I was really surprised at the number of people in the mall that night (I mean morning). The stores were completely jammed with people.
We ran into some friends and decided to let the initial craziness settle down while we ate in the food court. We left at 3:30am with only one small purchase, full tummies, but still no Starbucks.
I am not sure I would choose that experience again, but I achieved my initial goal, that of kicking myself into the holiday spirit. Since then, I have succeeded in decorating the house, and finishing all of my shopping. I can coast now and enjoy the true blessing of this time of year.
Blessing to all,
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