Black Friday Tradition with My Girl

Tay and I look forward to our special early morning Black Friday shopping day each year. We planned it out the night before, based on what stores open at what time and mostly, on what time we could get to Chic fila for our breakfast recharge..lol. 

We woke up extra early but it was hard to get moving, so we ended up leaving the house at 6ish. It was starting to get light outside so we were a tad bit disappointed in ourselves but decided to play things by ear, having no time restrictions. We really had nothing in particular that we were shopping for either, so that made us extra chill this year. We got to Walmart, the parking lot was surprisingly full! We looked through all the sale stuff and ended up just buying Dad some jeans and some AA batteries..we are so boring. lol. 

We grabbed bfast and sat in the warm car, eating in the parking lot of Target, our next stop. It looked so crowded, we almost felt like backing out but went on in. We found a couple little gift items but nothing much. The line was down by the time we checked out too so that was awesome! 

We went to Michaels, then the mall. We had never gone to the mall on Black Friday before so that was new...it was bustling with shoppers and pretty awesome to see. Tay got a couple things from Hot Topix and Earthbound. I felt like we barely got anything, but Tay mentioned that she felt like our shopping morning was a win, I'll take it! One thing that her and I agreed upon, is that the mall arcade is not what it used to be...such a let down with the grabber machines, no attendants, no tickets, no prizes. But that's okay, we still had a wonderful morning together and a free day ahead. Happy girls! 

Thanksgiving 2021

I used to menu plan and start cleaning and cooking, days in advance but I feel like we have this down to a science and no longer need the big prepping. I had the ingredients bought the week prior and it worked out great since we had to work on Wednesday. We moved dinner time to 3pm, so there was no big rush that morning, we got up and started cooking and even the kids pitched in...Blake made the green bean casserole and Tay made the cheesy potato bake. We actually got dinner done early and ready to eat by the time Diana & Danny walked in. I do need to remember to bake the desserts the day before, because cheesecake and buttermilk pie DO NOT like to be cooked on a lower rack, below the turkey...oops. The juicy turkey, all the fixins' and fresh baked rolls made up for the dark bottomed desserts..lol.

Billy said grace, we ate to our hearts content, thankful for our blessings. Aunt Sissy brought a bunch of scratchers for us to try our luck at. Turns out, we will have to focus on our blessings because none of us got lucky. We cleaned up the plates and Blake immediately cleared the table and broke out the Aggravation game. We brought up the 6 player version so we could all participate, it sure makes a difference having the extra people constantly plucking you off the board and sending you back home! The added "aggravation" sure gave us lots of memories of Mom and how upset she would get, she was out to get ya! And SO WAS DIANA!! She couldn't reach the board so she would point her finger with vigor and she directed us where to land her marble! She was more worried about taking us off than winning and getting herself to safety..lol! We were laughing and shouting and having the best time ever...it was the longest game of Aggravation ever. It took over 2 hours for Diana to bring in a win! The guys continued playing just to see who came in 2nd, 3rd, etc...Blake was a sore loser, coming in dead last..lol. 

The boys headed over to Aunt Susie's house with a turkey dinner delivery. She was happy to get the Thanksgiving meal without having to come over, possibly driving in the dark. It really was a blessed day to be thankful for.