It's almost that time of year again!!

My bff and I have been going shopping in the wee hours of the morning on Black Friday for 6 years now, this will be our 7th Black Friday morning in a few weeks.

Can I admit I go as much for those uninturupted hours in the dark with her, as for the deals?

It starts weeks beforehand when we begin planning our route and strategy.

We meet in the dark, our breath cloudy between us as we sit in a frosty car, nibbling my dad's famous rolls, sipping hot coffee, and waiting for the window's to clear. I torture her with Christmas music and she complains its too early for it, though we are in fact getting ready to  go CHRISTMAS shopping.

We reach our destination half an hour to an hour before opening time. We sit in the toasty car enjoying our refreshments and laughing at the shivering people already in line.

When the door opens we wander in after the initial rush. It's more our style to move at our own rate and not be swept into the crush and press of folks vying to be the first through those glass and chrome doors.

We drift through the crowd, our hands clasped, or holding onto a fold of clothing to stay together. Once arms are full we post one of us in an aisile, the other bobbing and weaving through throngs of people, some bogged down by carts and strollers, to snatch the last few items we have planned to get.  We join a line that seems miles long snaking upand down the rows. We make friends with the people in line around us.We pay, and escape to the now cold car, and pull off to hit the next store on our list.

By nine thirty/ten o'clock we are finished. We are tired. We are hungry. So, it's time for breakfast. We stop and eat and talk about the morning.

Then we hit to dollar tree for paper and tape, and we head back to an empty  house and wrap what we've just purchased as we complain about how tired we are.

She helps me load my gifts into my car and we say our good byes.Though we've been together sometimes as many as 9 hours at this point, it's still a little disappointing to be leaving, to be breaking up the morning of fun, friendship and frugal finds.

All of this to say....my kids don't NEED anything I can get on Black Friday. They don't need plastic toys, or cheaply made clothes, they don't need pretty packages tied with ribbons to make it Christmas.

But, I do need my Black Friday, just her and I. It's tradition. And traditions, even simple, surface ones are what make the Holiday special.