A 4 A.M. Date

There is nothing more romantic than watching the sun rise with the one you love by your side. Of course we only caught glimpses of the beautiful pinks streaking across the sky as we hurried from store to store. And our date began well before sunrise...with a wake-up call at 3:30 to be exact.

This is tradition for us, but there hasn't ever been a year with such mild standing-in-line weather or a year when the store openings lined up so perfectly for us. We hit Kohl's at 4:00 when they opened their doors. Very crowded, but we were able to snag a few things and take our place in the check-out line before it got too long. After a quick Chick-fil-A breakfast a la drive-thru, we headed out for our 5:00 opening at Toy R Us. But it never happened. We got there and saw the line at the door was at least a mile thick with desperate, crazy mommies and daddies. Though some may argue the fact, we don't consider ourselves that desperate or crazy, so we left.

Since we had an hour to kill, we decided to make an unscheduled stop at Wal-Mart. I had forgotten why I don't do Wal-Mart the day after Thanksgiving until I was already 10 carts deep in Aisle 42. It was absolute madness; however, I did use my Stuck-in-Aisle-42 time wisely by grabbing a couple of good deals for the kids. By the time we escaped left Wally World, it was time for our 6:00 opening at Target. The line there was at least 1/2 as long as the line we deserted at Toys R Us, but we decided to brave it anyway, and the trip paid off nicely.

After a quick visit to Game Stop, we decided we'd try Toys R Us again. The parking lot was completely filled, with illegally parked cars littering the curb. But why not? We're on a date. We went in, and I quickly found the two items I came for. Then we got to the front to pay. And they sent us to the farthest corner from the register. "The line starts over there." We dared to venture over "there" only to find a line that wove in and out of every aisle, back and forth, to the back and the sides and then finally to the front. I was looking for the "Your Wait Time from this Point Is _____" sign. Space Mountain at Disney World might be worth the wait, but savings of a few bucks was not. We left so we could hang out with a couple thousand people at Best Buy.

Judging by Toys R Us as well as the full mall parking lot, the crowds were incredible out there today. I dare. No, I double dare the media to paint a picture of doom and gloom about Black Friday 2008! And we certainly did our part in helping the economy. The Princess, whose gifts I was forced to leave at Toys R Us because of the wait time, is the only one left on my Christmas List. Which isn't bad. It's a record, actually. OK, so I didn't make my November 12 New Year's Resolution Date, but we did well. And had a great date at the same time. After all, you take time out with your sweetie without the kids when you can get it...even if it is at 4 a.m.