Black Friday Shopping
Traditionally Unpredictable
by Adrienne Crezo

 Every year we save up our random windfalls, spare change, lottery winnings, etc., and blow all of it on Black Friday (the shopping day after Thanksgiving).  Now, mind you, we aren’t shopping with the mortgage payment—that would be a serious illness known as irresponsibility, which we avoid at all costs—but it seems so ridiculous that we feel compelled to wake up the day after Thanksgiving, bundle up and schlep out into the frigid nighttime air just to buy a cheap coffeepot or a pair of jeans. Then, I remember the year I cleared out the baby department at J.C. Penney and didn’t have to buy my daughter clothes for about five months; that’s a big deal when kids are small and need a new size every half-hour or so.

I’ll never forget that first time we took Malia shopping with us on Black Friday.  When we got up at 3:30 (that’s A.M., which is a time I had forgotten all about), we rushed around to make sure we had adequate diapers, milk, blankets, first-aid supplies, coffee and money to last the five or six hours we planned to be out.  We expected tears and struggle, but it seems Malia was game and just decided to go along for the ride. Dressing her like Ralphie’s younger brother from A Christmas Story was fast and easy. We set out immediately and stood in line for an hour, waiting for the first store of the day to open.

That day gave us many good purchases, mostly gifts for our family and friends, and we were fully exhausted by ten o’clock. Not once did I have to calm a screaming baby, get spit up on, or lose keys, wallet, or our child.  It was a great day, maybe our best Black Friday ever; I’m sure it was because Malia was very well behaved and my husband and I were hopped up on coffee. Whatever the reason, I think of that morning when I think of fall, and that’s probably why I keep going back out in the dark of night, in the freezing cold, armed with only a sweater, a wish list, and a fistful of change.

Subsequent years have proven more challenging. Once we got caught in the rain (which was just above freezing) and had to come back home to get The Girl cleaned up; another time there was simply nothing we needed to buy, and we went home mostly empty-handed and somewhat disillusioned. Last year was a decent time, and we got nearly everything we were planning to come home with.

Whether I find something for everyone or nothing at all, I plan to keep going every year.  My mom thinks I’m crazy, my friends don’t understand it, and I’m sure someone who reads this will stare blankly at the page, trying to decide whether I have a legitimate illness or if I’m insane by choice. Don’t worry about me; I choose to celebrate this crazy annual event, and I’m of sound mind and body.

Making traditions out of spontaneous ideas isn’t something we do intentionally; maybe it really is crazy to leave the house before dawn for any reason—I admit, it’s not often that I feel like anyone should do that. As a parent, though, I know that practicing routines and traditions, however bizarre, helps us maintain our healthy family accord. If your family is like mine (and please tell me it is), then there is more dys- than function, and any bit of glue that keeps it tight is worth the trouble. Even if that trouble is an ice-cold serving of too much shopping once a year.  I hope that lottery win comes in soon–according to my husband, we need a TV in the bedroom.

Author Adrienne Crezo is a freelance writer, busy wife and mother, has a full-time job, and is a part-time student at Cameron University.