If you ask me, nothing kicks off the Christmas holiday like shopping at 4 a.m. with a zillion sleep-deprived, present-crazed shoppers the day after Thanksgiving. It's no wonder why it's lovingly called "Black Friday"...! This year, I was amazed to see how a movie like Goonies, which has been released for decades now, could be the cause for a tug-of-war in the middle of a huge shopping center simply because it cost four dollars. FOUR DOLLARS. I'm always amazed at what length people will go to for a bargain. My mom and I aren't quite so vicious, or so desperate to save five dollars, although we do go and have a good time scoping out the morning sales. People always ask me why we go so early, especially if we rarely have things we are looking to buy. My response is: it's tradition. Thanks to Meemy, my grandma, we have been early morning Black Friday shoppers for years and years now. And for me, it really is the first tradition which kicks off all the others in anticipation and preparation for Christmas. In fact, that night Tony and I participated in two other yearly Christmas traditions--we set up our Christmas tree and all of our Christmas decorations while watching the movie Elf and drinking hot wassil. Mmmm, good times.

Besides Christmas tradition insanity, I have been doing a bunch of crafting and quilting whenever I wasn't working. I thought I'd show you a couple of pictures of what I've been up to lately...