The Day After Thanksgiving

Black Friday.  Ugh.  I used to be a fan, but in recent years, not so much.  I just can't stand the crowds and the lines.  Germans don't observe Black Friday--at least I didn't hear of any stores being open super early that day for it.  The only place to go here for Black Friday is the PX, so I expected it to be chaotic.  Having grown up in a military family, it was pretty much tradition to go to the midnight madness Black Friday sale, or to wake up at 0400 in the morning and go to the PX in time for it to open at 0600 or so. 

Last Friday, I rolled out of bed around 0730 and took my time getting over to the PX.  After all, the crowds would have died down by then. 

Whatever.

What kind of PX opens at 0900 on Black Friday?

Ours does. 

I had to wait in line for almost an hour and a half.  Even then, the place wasn't as crowded as I'm used to for Black Friday, so it wasn't half bad.  And I got the Nikon D5100 Digital SLR camera that I went there for--on sale.  Merry Christmas to me!

Malu wasn't too happy that I came home with the gift he was supposed to buy for me.  I'm not even asking him to buy me anything else...he can just call it good for the year.  I've been tossing back and forth between the idea of wrapping the camera up and opening it on Christmas or just learning to use the darn thing ASAP.  He's still miffed.  Hey, if he's that bothered, I won't object to him finding me something else :)

I did manage to find some other things too--mostly gifts for Sina and local friends and Christmas decorations.  But the best part of Black Friday was spending a good part of our day outside.  It was a gorgeous day and we took Sina out to the playground.

She just loves the swings!  And swinging with daddy...even better.  We also get a good workout carrying her to the top of the slide repeatedly too.  I did a little climbing :)

That night, I put up a Hello Kitty brand mini Christmas tree in Sina's room, which I know my sister, Rosalynn, would love.  Never, in a zillion years, did I ever think I'd buy a pink Christmas tree.

It even came with mini Hello Kitty ornaments.  Anything for our little girl, I suppose.  All it needs is a strand of lights, which I plan on getting really soon.

I can't remember what we did the rest of Black Friday, but I'm sure it involved a lot of napping in the late afternoon.  We're quite the family of nappers.

Speaking of Christmas trees, we don't have our big one up yet.  I wish we had one of those tree farms nearby so that we could choose and cut our own down.  Still, we haven't made our way over to the OBI (the German version of Home Depot) to buy one.  If we don't get one by this weekend, I might consider not putting one up at all.  Okay, whatever.  We know that won't happen.

Anyhow, it's getting late and we need to get to bed!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!