I give my brother a list of songs i want every year and he burns them to CDs for me (yes, i still can only listen to music via CDs). It's a great gift.

I actually received a catalog yesterday that piqued my interest. It's from Uncommon Goods. Lots of unique gifts for foodies, kids, animal lovers. I enjoyed looking through it and found lots of things I would like and maybe some I'll buy for my hubby.

I have to work on Friday. No way am I going to get up early to go shop and then come to work.

Richard Bachman is a pseudonym for Mr King does she have any of those books?

Yes to Black Friday, absolutely!!!!!

I went to the midnight Walmart opening in town a few years ago with my sister in law. NEVER AGAIN!! It was a nightmare and people were so unbelieveably rude! It didn't make the savings anywhere near worth the headache. When my now husband and I were dating, we went to a local store at 5:00 AM because they had travel DVD players for something like $30 a piece. We do a lot of traveling to visit his family by car so it was a good purchase for the kids.

We have a family tradition of looking through the ads in the Thanksgiving paper after dinner and see if it's even worth going out shopping. It usually isn't!

Nope, I am sure it sounds just as corny

I've done some Black Friday shopping in the past, back when it was beneficial for me to save the $$ since I had three kids. If you are in the right frame of mind, it can be fun, and if you are an avid shopper, you can save a ton of money. I went to a store at 7pm on Thanksgiving night a couple of years ago and again, it was OK...people were nice, and we actually had some fun while waiting. Will I do it again? Nope. I am getting too old for it! I prefer to let my fingers do the sale shopping on Cyber Monday!

Ditto this. Last time I stood in line @ 4 a.m. was 10 years ago with my exchange student (who wanted the experience).

I hate crowds in stores, so there is no way I'm going to any store on Friday, unless we run out of beer.

My wife and I had some time to kill on Veterans Day waiting for car repairs, and we stopped in a mall. It looked like it was abandoned. Hardly anyone shopping.

I agree with the online shopping though. So much easier.

Stupendous...I like that you think outside the box, I may have to start to be more creative... As for Black Friday, 2 years ago my then 16 yr old daughter wanted to go to the mall at midnight. So there I was with a car load of kids at the mall. I gave them a 2 hour limit and found the nearest chair. Needless to say I do not need to experience that again.

to clarify, i do my internet shopping throughout a period of time, not on black friday or cyber monday...

Have never shopped on Black Friday, and hate the WalMarts. I do ring for Salvation Army every year in front of a WalMart, though, and I admit I enjoy ringing on Black Fridays (though, maybe not for the right reasons). I chuckle as I watch the people who have obviously been out waaaaaaaay too long, the hijinks in the parking lot (like honking at the poor family taking too long to load their car, instead of backing up and taking a spot several rows back), the people still in what I assume were their previous night's pajamas, the vampire-like reactions to sunlight as they emerge from hours of shopping, the poor first-timer husbands who didn't know what they were getting into (and will make for-dam-sure they don't get roped in again next year), and just the blank, confused, soul-less gazes of people as you say "Merry Christmas!".

It's quite the show and those shifts seem to go much quicker than others. 'Tis the season.

These are the best! Last year my oldest grangirl made cds for various family members. For me and my husband, she picked love songs that she thought represented us and our relationship. It was so amazing and insightful to listen to. The best gift that just keeps on giving.

Otherwise, I'm like Tink. Been there. Done that. Don't want another t-shirt. Hubs and I like to go out to shop on Saturday and grab lunch out so we keep doing it through the holidays. But half of the stuff we get online. Just easier and with free shipping, I'm not burning gas either.

It's the day after Thanksgiving. It's a normal Friday other than that. Some people want to shop, some people don't. Some people want to work that day, some people don't. Some people are forced to shop, some people are forced not to shop. Some people are forced to work, some people are forced not to work. I'm going to work on November 28th. I don't really want to, but I told someone else they could take that day off.

It's a business day. It's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, unless you choose to make it a big deal.

That's how I look at it anyway.

Black Friday is a choice?

I'll head to Lowe's or Home Depot around 2pm and pick up some of the $1 poinsettias they have to have as decorations around the house. The crowds are usually gone, and they never seem to run out of those.

Tha's about the extent of my shopping. I've never gone out at 4am, and I never plan to.

I did have one manager, years ago, who was completely oblivious to the whole thing. He planned to go out and didn't believe us when we told him it would be packed. He was convinced everyone would be home sleeping off Thanksgiving. He made it to two stores before he gave up and went home. I don't think he was able to buy anything...

No way! I actually prefer to work that day. Doesn't get any quieter than Black Friday in the office.
And to CompliantOkie, my kids buy gifts from Uncommon Goods and have never been disappointed.

A couple of years ago my niece, nephew and I decided we would give the Thanksgiving night shopping at WalMart a go. My nephew is 6'4", 250lb wall of solid muscle. He had people cutting him off and ramming him with their shopping carts. He's pretty mild mannered so when I glanced over at him and saw the look on his face I decided that the best place for him (and the rest of the shoppers) was in the car. I thought we were going to witness a blood bath!

I will never do that again.

Some things are, Ed.

...unless they're not.

Can't argue with that logic. Your mind is a steel trap.

My son is a monster on a normal day at Wal-Mart...I'm quite sure Black Friday would land him in jail and others in the hospital!

Black Friday crowds? No thank you. I refuse to shop in the normal-workday-after-5:00 crowds unless it's a dire necessity.

I admit, I've done the 4am thing a couple of times with one of my friends. Once because she talked me into it, and the second time because I thought surely the first time must have been a fluke - no way were cops breaking up fistfights between soccer moms in the Walmart toy section...I must have imagined that. Sadly, I was mistaken.

i did this one year, in about 3 hours i made enough to pay for our Christmas and vacation...