I love bargains, but I'm not a Black Friday shopper. First, I value my sleep more than finding a good deal, and second, I'm not a fan of shopping with large crowds of people. I did go to one store today - CVS. If you have a CVS near you, I really recommend you going there around Thanksgiving. They run their "Black Friday" deals for three days (beginning on Thanksgiving Day). They give LOTS of stuff away for free (after Extra Care Bucks), and if you have manufacturer coupons, you can actually "make money" on some items (like I made $2 on Colgate today). Aside from the plethora of freebies, the other nice thing about CVS is that if they are out of anything, they'll give you a rain check that never expires. How nice is that! I was pleasantly surprised how many of their "freebies" were still in stock since I arrived more than 24 hours after the sale began.
I did do some online "Black Friday" shopping. That's definitely more my style although sometimes it's hard to be online at exactly the right moment when the deals (such as Amazon's lightning deals) sometimes only last for say 2 minutes. I'm thankful for some bloggers (such as Money Saving Mom) who point out some of the great deals as otherwise it could be like looking for a needle in a haystack at time. Barnes and Noble was having a sale where you could get one toy or game for 50% off today. Well that ended up taking a lot more time than I anticipated because many of the toys I first selected (ex. Legos) weren't included. Finally I found something I've been wanting for the kids (a play cash register) that WAS included in the sale. Whew.
Instead of calling it Black Friday, it's more like a red and green Friday in our house because we start decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. Nadia didn't last too long with helping me put ornaments on the tree. That surprised me. She was very excited at first. All the ornaments she put up were bunched very close together. Maybe part of the reason she lost enthusiasm for the activity was because Ian was taking them off at the same time she was putting them on. She can put them on properly this year. Last year she just rested them in the branches. She took them on and off a fair amount last year (at age 2.5), but Ian also started taking off the lights. OOPS! Hopefully he now realizes that is not acceptable. I don't mind if he takes off the ornaments near the bottom, as I put all the fragile ones out of their reach. We've never had a tree topple over, but it might happen this year with Ian. Hopefully not.
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My parents and brother spent 25 hours with us. Paul's family spent several hours here yesterday afternoon. Paul's mom brought coleslaw and corn pudding. Paul's sister-in-law brought an apple and a pumpkin pie. I served turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, a green bean casserole, homemade rolls, and cranberry sauce. Yesterday Nadia only had cranberry sauce and a roll. She
loves cranberry sauce. Today I insisted she have some sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. She discovered she loves sweet potatoes (we tried to tell her that yesterday!). It was tough to get her to eat the mashed potatoes and stuffing. She loves pierogies (which have mashed potatoes on the inside), so I have no idea why she thinks she doesn't like mashed potatoes. I think everyone had a nice time. It was nice not to need to travel this holiday. Of course the downside of hosting is more dishes, cooking, and laundry, but it's all SOOOO worth it! I've always loved spending time with our families, but it means even more to me now as I love watching our parents interact with our kids. Priceless. Another upside of hosting the meals is that we have leftovers! Hopefully Ian will be joining us in eating some of the meal next year.
The highlight of my day today happened this evening during dinner. Ian has said "I love you" when I've prompted him to say it to someone else (ex. a Grandma), but today was the first time he said it to ME of his own accord. Priceless. I almost started crying. Definitely a heart melting moment. The funniest thing he said today was while we were decorating the tree he was playing nearby and said in a very stern voice "Ian, NO!" Paul and I burst out laughing. I have no idea why he told himself "no," but you can tell he's heard that a few times, lol!
I love bargains, but I'm not a Black Friday shopper. First, I value my sleep more than finding a good deal, and second, I'm not a fan of shopping with large crowds of people. I did go to one store today - CVS. If you have a CVS near you, I really recommend you going there around Thanksgiving. They run their "Black Friday" deals for three days (beginning on Thanksgiving Day). They give LOTS of stuff away for free (after Extra Care Bucks), and if you have manufacturer coupons, you can actually "make money" on some items (like I made $2 on Colgate today). Aside from the plethora of freebies, the other nice thing about CVS is that if they are out of anything, they'll give you a rain check that never expires. How nice is that! I was pleasantly surprised how many of their "freebies" were still in stock since I arrived more than 24 hours after the sale began.
I did do some online "Black Friday" shopping. That's definitely more my style although sometimes it's hard to be online at exactly the right moment when the deals (such as Amazon's lightning deals) sometimes only last for say 2 minutes. I'm thankful for some bloggers (such as Money Saving Mom) who point out some of the great deals as otherwise it could be like looking for a needle in a haystack at time. Barnes and Noble was having a sale where you could get one toy or game for 50% off today. Well that ended up taking a lot more time than I anticipated because many of the toys I first selected (ex. Legos) weren't included. Finally I found something I've been wanting for the kids (a play cash register) that WAS included in the sale. Whew.
Instead of calling it Black Friday, it's more like a red and green Friday in our house because we start decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. Nadia didn't last too long with helping me put ornaments on the tree. That surprised me. She was very excited at first. All the ornaments she put up were bunched very close together. Maybe part of the reason she lost enthusiasm for the activity was because Ian was taking them off at the same time she was putting them on. She can put them on properly this year. Last year she just rested them in the branches. She took them on and off a fair amount last year (at age 2.5), but Ian also started taking off the lights. OOPS! Hopefully he now realizes that is not acceptable. I don't mind if he takes off the ornaments near the bottom, as I put all the fragile ones out of their reach. We've never had a tree topple over, but it might happen this year with Ian. Hopefully not. 
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