Turkey Day and Black Friday

Here's the recap of how Thanksgiving weekend went down in the Trenches:

Turkey Day morn started bright and early at 7am, since the 5-mile local Turkey Trot started at 8:10. And my mom? Randomly decided that she, too, wanted to participate. In a 5-mile road race. Because she wanted the free tee shirt. So my Sis and I, rolled our eyes (secretly) and encouraged her to do so. Both of us not willing to ask the other, "So does this mean we should run with her?"

And we were off. We finished, together, at 46 minutes. And Mom? Sis was kind enough to immediately turn around at the finish line and to jog back to find her. I was too tired and walked. Eventually, I met up with them. My mom was trailing a stooped 4ft tall 84 year old man. She pleaded with my Sis and I to trip him so she could at least beat him. When she crossed the finish line, eating the old guy's dust, we assumed she had finished the race last. But! When I checked the race results, it seems another woman finished 13 minutes behind Mom! Yay Mom! See, you weren't last. And you learned a good lesson about the difference between a run and a race.

Along with the weather (60+ degrees? In Massachusetts? On Thanksgiving? Wha?), our Thanksgiving meal was perfect. Hubby, the boyz and I were joined by Hubby's parents, my parents, my Bro and my Nephew. When it was time to go around the table to say what we were thankful for (our family tradition), Eldest melted my heart when he proclaimed, without prompting (or blackmail, for that matter), "My family and God." The wine/Corona drinking was kept to a minimum because 1. I had a headache; and 2. I needed to be in good shopping form for our foray into the jungle that is Black Friday...

which began at 3:30am. That is the time I set my alarm for. Sis picked my Mom and I up in the Trenches a little after 4am. We arrived at the outlets (that had opened at midnight) a little before 5am, and were waylaid by a little bit of traffic--mostly the midnight shoppers trying to leave. Our first store, the Gap outlet, was ridiculous. Crowded, hot and completely messy. Sis found one shirt that she wanted, but Mom and I talked her out of waiting in the long, winding checkout line.

We had the best luck at Gap kids, the Ann Taylor outlet (I got 4 work shirts) and the Banana Republic outlet (which was also crowded, hot and messy, but by that time, I think we were too robotic to even notice, and thus Sis and I waited in long, winding lines for both the fitting rooms and the checkout.) Oh, and the bra store. Mom and Sis dragged me in there and outfitted me with some new peanut shells bras. If you ever want your self esteem to remain intact, DON'T go bra shopping with the two women who know you best in this world and who will not hesitate to cackle hysterically as they discover that you are, in fact, an A cup.

Some stores had lines outside their doors with shoppers waiting to get in! The Ugg store and the Coach store were not patronized by us for this reason. But damn! Everyone who waited in line and went in was coming out with packages, so we were a bit jealous as we pressed our noses up against the panes of glass, but our dignity remained intact. We were NOT going to wait in line to get INTO a store! At the ass crack of dawn, no less! And now all I really want is a pair of Uggs.

Our Black Friday shopping spree ended at 2pm. So we put in a respectable 9 hours. On sore and tired 5-mile run muscles, no less.

But our day wasn't over. Oh no, Mom still had visions of sugarplums cookie-decorating dancing in her head. With all 5 of her grandchildren. Yet me, being the wise daughter that I am, knew my Mom would be oh so tired (and sore from her 5-mile race run jog walk) so I did what I had to do: gave her copious amounts of wine, so that by the time she was finally able to crash, she could exclaim, "Hey, my legs aren't really that sore now!" Uh, yeah Mom, really?
So who wants some yummy cookies that were hardly licked?
Stay tuned: Tomorrow I'll bring you part deuce of the holiday weekend: Saturbarfday and Sundiarrheaday.