Thanksgiving 2012

So this year, there was no Macy's Day Parade watching on Thanksgiving morning.

(that used to be one of my favorite starts to the morning)

Instead, I dragged myself out of bed to work at 6:30. Carson dropped me off and went to his office to grade papers. It didn't exactly feel like a holiday, except that there were many more customers than usual. We were very busy, and I was exhausted when I left at a quarter to 2. 

Carson picked me up and we rushed home so that I could get ready, which happened in record time. He'd made a pumpkin bread since I didn't have time (meaning that I didn't really want to get up before work to do it) and we grabbed that and headed over to our friends, the Wilsons for a Thanksgiving feast. It didn't occur to me to take pictures, but everything was so tasty! There was turkey, Cajun stuffing, a really yummy green bean casserole, bread, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy and more. After a little bit, we had dessert, which I couldn't finish. It was great!

We hung around and talked for a few hours, and then headed home. We flipped through the Black Friday sale papers and just hung around being still for a little bit, since we'd been around people all day.

Just a disclaimer here - the reason I like Black Friday is because my dad and I would get up really early the day after Thanksgiving to hit Staples, Radio Shack and Best Buy. We'd finish up the shopping trip by searching for gifts for my mom's birthday on December 1st (hint, hint... it's coming up!). The day after Thanksgiving is more of a sentimental thing than anything... it's fun to find cheap things but I'm mostly in it for the memories and the fun. 

Then we decided to go to Target, which was opening at 9pm. The line was wrapped around the building when we arrived, right at 9, but we were in the store less than ten minutes later. I took this terrible picture with my cell phone since I didn't bring my camera.

We went because I bullied Carson into going, just because I like the thrill of the lines and the people rushing around. We weren't there for a large TV, which is good because I'm pretty sure those sold out before we got in there (it was seriously less than 10 minutes!). We were there for the cheap fake Christmas trees. I felt a little bit like I was betraying my upbringing by purchasing an artificial tree but the deed is done and I'm now in the market for a good Christmas tree scented candle :)

After Target, we went to Michael's and got some on-sale Christmas decor. We'd considered going to Old Navy too, but they didn't open until midnight and we weren't really planning on buying anything, so we just went home.

The next morning, Carson left at 5am to get in line for a bookstore that was giving away gift cards to the first 100 people in line. He was seventh or something. I worked that morning, and then we went to dinner for date night, then a few other places to see if we could catch sales. We found the entire Harry Potter series on DVD for pretty cheap and came home with that as well as a few small Christmas gifts and an advent calendar.

All in all, a relaxing and fun weekend.