Lesson Learned

Well, Thanksgiving was great, as always. We had a great time with family and the Beaufort Stew was awesome. (Although I ate so much of Brian's artichoke and cheese dip that I was almost too full for dinner!) I made cherry cheesecake puffs and Brian made a banana pudding for the desserts- they were both great, too. I was so full I felt sick after leaving. Anyway- the girls spent the night with my parents that night, so I got a wonderful idea (or so I thought) about how to spend the rest of the evening. Everybody had been taunting me with the fact that the outlet centers were all opening at midnight that night and said they couldn't believe I wasn't going-especially since I didn't have the girls the next morning. I never got into that "after Thanksgiving shopping" mayhem, because it is physically impossible for me to get up at such a ridiculous hour- and I hate the crowds, and I am usually done Christmas shopping by then. But- being the daring night owl that I am, I decided to live on the edge and go to the midnight opening that night at the outlets. My friends C and M called me that evening and they decided they would be wild and go to. (When you are our age with children, that is about as daring and exciting as it can get....) We decided that the crowds should not be that bad, because most people are bound to the "tradition" of getting up early and going in the morning. So, I loaded up on Frappuchinos and went to C's house and we got on the road. The outlet center is only about 30 mins away- usually. It took us about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Why- you may ask- did it take that long? Well, I believe with all my heart and soul that everyone in South Carolina (except for the people we know) was at the outlet center that night. We saw the tailights backed up for miles off the exit and decided that there must be a wreck. Well, there wasn't. Then, all these people were pulling up beside people in the front of the line and trying to get them to let them in. I swear I was about ready to pull Betty (my 38 special) out of my purse and shoot their tires out, and also shoot out the tires of anyone who let them in. We were irate when we finally got to the centers. Never have I seen so many cars in one outlet center in my life. The radio estimated that there were over 7500 people there when it opened- I think there were about 14,000. That is what it seemed like, anyway. We only got to go in a few stores, because most of them had check-out lines going out the door and across the sidewalk. Some stores were only letting so many people in at a time, because of fire code I guess. I did get a mirror I had been wanting from Bombay, and I got my mom some coffee from Harry and David's that she wanted. That was it. I will never, ever do that again. I went to sleep at 4 am, and Brian woke me up at 7:30 trying to find just the right shirt to wear to the shooting range. He is very lucky that Betty was downstairs at the time. Once I wake up, I am up. So- I am still not caught up on sleep and have nothing to show for it. We are going to C and M's tonight to watch the Clemson/ Carolina game- so I am looking forward to that. Hopefully, Clemson will absolutely romp over the Chickens. C and C are coming to pick us up in their van, which I am sure will have tacky Carolina flags all over it. Little do they know that I will have my tiger paw car magnet in my purse and I will stick it on the car door when I get in.... Hah. Anyway- our Christmas tree is up and the decorations are 95% done, so I am happy with that. Hope this week is a little slower than the others have been. Now if anyone reading this goes to the outlets next Thanksgiving, don't say I didn't warn you!