Black Friday: only a little Gray

My day after Thanksgiving tradition, as long as I can recall, or at least 20 years, is to stay home, eat leftovers, and watch movies or read books. I DO NOT go shopping on the three days following the great turkey feast. The only year I can recall breaking this tradition is the year I had to work at Sears in Gretna (New Orleans) on Black Friday, to make sure all the Christmas displays were ready to go before the store opened.

But this year something happened. On Thanksgiving Day the ads arrived at our house (disguised as a newspaper, they sure are sneaky that way), and I looked at them. And I noticed that the fabric store that I had been meaning to visit all week had everything on super-duper sale. So my trip to buy $2 worth of thread turned into something ... more.

I packed up Arabella, leaving poor baby Sabine with my father (aka "Grumpy," who is incapable of changing a diaper, and has determined that the way to get out of baby duty is to claim that his allergies are in fact the onset of the plague, and he mustn't hold Sabine for fear of transmitting germs), and waking the Man just to warn him that our youngest and tenderest was in the hands of a Republican, and split.

I got a sewing box (the fabric basket kind, which I have lusted after for many years), a plastic box with a carrying handle for Arabella, 2 skeins Merino wool yarn for hats (for the Man and others) and more cotton yarn for washcloths, and the requisite pink thread, for patching the rip in Arabella's brand new pink tutu, torn when she wore it to ballet and got into a tug-of-war over it with another little ballerina. The total was under $30. The store was busy, but not packed, and the manager said the customers were happy, not crabby. Arabella was helpful, and stayed close and restrained, instead of running screaming through the store.

We returned to find all was well, Sabine had slept the whole time I was gone, and the menfolk were still functional. I took over the house and the Man and my dad went to Home Depot. Nothing like breaking with tradition.