The Pie Crust Wasn't the Only Thing That Was Flaky

For as long as I have been dating and/or married to my husband, we have split Thanksgiving between our two families. We celebrate with his family in the early afternoon, eating way too much food for lunch, then heading to my family's, where we again try and eat way too much food for dinner. We then finish off the evening by staying up way too late, drinking too much wine, and playing too many games with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend. The next day I feel like the turkey....dead and stuffed. Needless to say, whenever my girlfriend, Jonna, would ask me if I wanted to go Black Friday shopping with her the day after Thanksgiving, I always looked at her like she had grown another head. No way. I would be lucky to be out of bed before my kids, let alone before the SUN! Never-the-less, she would always ask, and I would always laugh at her.

This year, we got smart. My mom and I put our heads together and realized it would be a much more relaxing day for Mark and I (and my brother and his girlfriend....they were having to split the day on Thursday, too), if we celebrated with them on Friday. Brilliant. This would mean that we would be home on Thursday sometime around naptime, and would not have to be anywhere else until sometime the next afternoon. We also wouldn't be trying to cram TWO Thanksgiving dinners into our tummies in one day (although somehow we had always managed to do it). It also meant that when Jonna asked me again this year if I wanted to go Black Friday shopping with her, I actually considered it. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be fun. An adventure. Something you have to do at least once in your life, right?! So I said I would.

Thursday night, after Jonna and I had put our game plan together and decided where we would be going first (Kohl's) and what time she would be picking me up (4:50...A! M!) , I headed off to bed. My allergies had been bothering me, but I didn't want to take a Benadryl for fear of the hangover I'd have in the morning. I set my alarm for 4:00, figuring I'd hit snooze once or twice, then stumble into the shower, get dried, dressed and out the door. But you know what they say about the best of intentions.

I did not sleep a wink that night. I tossed and turned and had allergy attack upon allergy attack. My eyes were red and puffy, my nose was sniffly and sometime around 3:00, I finally conceded that I could not go on my shopping adventure. The only problem was, there was no way for me to tell Jonna this without waking her entire family. So I decided the best idea was for me to stay awake until she got there, run out and tell her I wasn't going, then come back inside to my Benadryl and my bed. (Before you think I'm too terrible, let me tell you that Kohl's is LITERALLY right across the street from my apartment. She did not go out of her way AT ALL by coming to pick me up.) But I chickened out. I sent my husband.

So my shopping adventure crashed and burned. Fortunately, our Thanksgiving didn't. We had delicious food, good company and fun times. My mom and I decided that a Friday Thanksgiving was the best idea and we would be crazy to do it any other way in the future (hopefully everyone else in the family agrees!). Maybe next year I will try again to go shopping on Black Friday and be successful. Maybe I won't. Either way I will be thankful for understanding friends, flexible family and another year to celebrate. I hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine!