Saturday, November 25, 2006

Home for the Holidays

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I'm home visiting family, and happily, I haven't had to spend a dime in cash since getting off the Amtrak train. I haven't had to spend much money here at all, actually, until today: I decided to brave the local mall. But you know what? It was no big deal. Is it just me, or does that post-Thanksgiving shopping rush become more and more of a non-event each year? On Black Friday, I drove past the mall and the parking lot was not particularly full. Today, again, it was no busier than an average weekend, I thought. I suppose the internet is to thank for that.
So as usual, I set out to begin my holiday shopping all gung-ho, thinking I'd get a big chunk of it done... but I can't say I did. Here's what I bought:
Some cologne for my mother to give to my father
Some underwear for myself, on sale at least!
A $90-after-rebate TV/DVD player combo that my sister and I will give to my mother. This was a happy thing, as I paid for part of my share with a $25 Best Buy gift card that someone gave me last Christmas. And $90 is a small price to pay for a TV... and an even smaller price to pay to keep your parents from bickering over what movie to watch during the bizarre periods when they actually live together.
The only other thing I bought at the mall was a yummy lunch at Legal Sea Foods, one of my favorite outside-of-NYC treats.
The most desirable but outrageously expensive thing I spotted while shopping were the kids clothes at the Lucky Brand jeans store. They have the cutest little t-shirts and things that I thought would be adorable on my niece and nephew, but $98 for a toddler-size sweatshirt? Sorry, I don't think so!
As for the rest of my shopping? Well, I'll be cutting this short so I can go click around on Amazon! And then there's always the free book pile at work!

4 comments:

Well Heeled Blog said...

I'm scared to go to the mall on Black Fridays. Don't want to get trampled. ;)

...I do wish there was a Black Friday for just books.

mOOm said...

That's interesting, because the media is going on about how it is becoming a bigger and bigger deal - especially extra early openings at 5am or whenever. I've never been shopping on that day (I don't buy Chrismas presents and there is always some bargain to find somewhere anyway, I've lived 8-9 years in the US in total....), so I wouldn't know. Maybe it depends on location.

mapgirl said...

Our Thanksgiving guest told us there was a department store that was actually open on Thanksgiving Day! Give it a rest people! Have a HOLIDAY.

I had a wonderful Buy/Do Nothing Day on Black Friday. It was fantastic to do nothing but eat leftovers, play video games and read a book.

I'll admit to being afraid of crowds. Not so much a fear of the crowd itself, but the aggravation that comes with dealing with a crowd.

Single Ma said...

Happy belated to you as well!

I went shopping yesterday and I also found the shopping crowd to be pretty sparse. Surprised but thankful. I found quite a few things that were still selling at the BF door buster prices (food processor $5, DVDs $3.48, toys less than $10, etc.). I knocked out about 7 gifts and spent less than $100. I was a very happy shopper indeed. And no crowds!!