Black Friday

We had a great, quiet Thanksgiving. That's the perfect kind, if you ask me. I had lunch on the table by noon thanks to the cooking assistance of daughter. We had most everything prepared on Wednesday, so Thursday was a breeze.

I decided to venture out for some shopping today and was pleasantly surprised to find the stores not too crowded. I'm not nuts enough to go out before daylight, but I was in Wal Mart by 8:30. They had what I was there to buy, and I didn't have to wait in line to pay. I even found a close parking space. You can't beat that.

This boosted my courage enough to venture into the "big city" for some mall shopping. We stopped off at Target first to procure down blankets for my grandmothers and a toy for my "nephew." Again, I didn't have to wait in line and I got a decent parking space.

The mall was a bit more crowded, but once I figured out that parking near one of the department store entrances was out, I found a place to park. Macy's helped me finish up most of my shopping. We were out of the mall by 1 PM, I think.

I'm almost completely done with Christmas shopping. I can't believe it. It's been relatively painless. We did trim the recipient list a bit, so that helped. I've still got husband, MIL, FIL, a close family friend, and brother to shop for. I know what husband is getting. Brother and MIL are both getting gift cards to a local department store, family friend loves Wal Mart, so it's a gift card for him, and I need to order husband's gift. FIL's gift is husband's to decide. I really do not know what to get him. All of the gifts that I've purchased so far are wrapped!! Now....wonder if I can manage to get Christmas cards in the mail this year....

We'll soon be baking cookies for daughter to give to her friends. That should be fun. I found a recipe in the current Good Housekeeping for chocolate filled biscotti. I think a batch of that and maybe one other kind of cookied should do us.