I believe I had what could be considered a successful Black Friday.

I got up at the crack of dawn and chose not to sling the covers back over my head. I got to the stores not too long after they opened. I didn’t wrestle any boxes from any grandmothers getting presents for their grandchildren or get into any verbal altercations. I didn’t spend too much money (the concept is a bit relative, but I really didn’t). I got gifts for myself and some for the people I love.

All in all, I had a great time. I actually Twittered about my shopping excursion, which you can check out by going to twitter.com/ncircle.

I did a mixture of in-store and online shopping. I walked away with a new DVD player along with 14 DVDs for myself along with the gifts.

The store shopping wasn’t too treacherous either. Nowhere near as horrible and terrifying as the Walmart in Long Island, N.Y. where a worker was trampled and a woman miscarried. Read the story by clicking here.

I stopped by the Glenview Target and the Northbrook Best Buy and shoppers were relatively happy and seemed excited by their purchases.

At Target, I saw more than one cart with large HD TVs and other electronics. That area was the epicenter of activity while the grocery and clothing areas were near ghost towns. (I chose to pick up an essential case of Mountain Dew and aluminum foil while I was there). While at Best Buy, laptops were snapped up quickly, but they had plenty of DVDs for me to pick from.

While my adulthood Black Fridays are dedicated to shopping and finding great deals, I can’t help but reminisce about my “day after Thanksgivings” of years ago.

It might be that I’m so stodgy about giving Thanksgiving its due (read Pet Peeves: The holiday edition) because the day after Turkey Day really signified the start of Christmas.

Every year, through my middle school years I believe, my parents would bundle my brother and I up in our winter coats and take us downtown for a brunch at the State Street Marshall Field’s Walnut Room (now Macy’s).

We’d take a peek at decorated windows, the year the windows had a “Pinocchio” theme sticks out in my mind as a favorite, before standing in line for admittance to the Walnut Room. The line was always so long and wound through the store, but we’d wait. We’d get to see the massive Christmas tree and eat. And we’d always have a cup of hot chocolate in one of those glass mugs that you could take home.

It wasn’t Christmas until we made that trip downtown.

And now, since I’ve given thanks and eaten a deep fried turkey, I know it’s okay to acknowledge that Christmas is coming. Time to start decorating, listening to Christmas music and wrapping gifts.

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By: Heather Leszczewicz | Staff Writer At 11/28/2008 - 12:48pm |  |  |