A Visit to Santa Claus

Image via WikipediaImage via WikipediaImage by Getty Images via @daylifeThe Thanksgiving weekend is coming to an end which means it will be time for my wife to try to get our son back to school tomorrow.  It also means that Christmas is right around the corner, actually just four weeks from today.  With such a short break between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it also means my son will only be gone for about 3.5 weeks before he comes home for Christmas break.

I am happy to say that I am basically done with my Christmas shopping this year.  There may be a gift card or two that I have to pick up between now and Christmas.  Yesterday, I received an email informing me that the presents I bought for my son on BestBuy.com were on their way.  I am so glad that I was able to find the items I wanted online at the Black Friday prices rather than fighting those crowds.

I did not hear of any major incidents near me, but there were several prominent news stories about man's inhumanity to man during the Black Friday events.  Talk about the Spirit of Christmas.  NOT!  There was the woman who pepper sprayed fellow shoppers to gain an advantage in getting an Xbox she wanted.  There was somebody who was shot during an altercation during an attempted robbery when the victims left a store with their Black Friday booty.  Then there were other incidents as well.

Today, we were going to take our son to visit my parents before he goes back to school tomorrow.  Unfortunately, they were doing some work at their church this afternoon and were unavailable.  So, we made other plans and took our son out to Arundel Mills Mall to go play some skee-ball and other games at the Dave & Buster's.

After we left Dave & Buster's, we went into the FYE store to get him a new DVD to take back to school.  When we were leaving, we were looking at some of the games available for the Playstation 3 that I ordered on Thanksgiving for his Christmas present.  He confirmed that my decision to buy it and the Madden 12 game was the right one when he told us he wanted Madden 12, a hockey game, and a NASCAR game for Christmas.

We told him that he would have to tell Santa Claus what he wanted for Christmas.  Normally, my son does not want to visit with Santa, but there was no line to visit with ole St. Nick.  My son, who is too big to sit on Santa's lap, walked up to Santa and shook his hand.  He proceeded to tell Santa the list of games he wanted for Christmas.  It will be so much fun watching him open his presents in four weeks.

Related articles

• Yes Tammy There Still is a Santa Claus (socyberty.com)
• Facts about Christmas that are guaranteed to shock you, like the origin of Xmas. (pastormikesays.wordpress.com)

Happy Thanksgiving

I would like to take this time out to wish everybody here in the States a very Happy Thanksgiving. I hope that everybody can take some time to reflect on all of the things in your life that you can be thankful for, no matter how small they may be.  No matter your situation, I hope you can find something that you can be thankful for.

For me personally, here are a few things that I am thankful for:

• In this tough economy and high unemployment, I am thankful to have a good job.
• I am thankful that we were able to pick our son up from school on Tuesday for the long weekend together
• I am thankful for WilyGuy for tipping me to BestBuy.com for Black Friday deals so that I have already finished my Christmas shopping and don't have to fight the crowds tonight.
• I am thankful for all of my family, friends, and those of you that take time out of your day to come here to read this blog

Now, everybody go ahead and party like it's 1621!

Pilgrim Song - Party Like it's 1621! by JibJab

Black Friday

Image via WikipediaI don't usually partake in Black Friday deals, but I might have to this year.  Those doorbuster specials usually start way too early in the morning, and I hate fighting the crowds.  Besides, they usually have a limited number of the hot deal items and there is no guarantee if you get up at 4am to get there for the early morning opening that you will get what you came for.

About the only year that I got up early to get to a Black Friday special was the year that the Furby toys came out.  For some reason, my wife really wanted one.  I got up to the Kay Bee Toy store about half an hour before they opened and the line was outrageous.  Fortunately, my sister in law was already in line waiting to get one for herself, so I got in line with her and got the Furby.

A little more than a week ago, I posted about how I was considering buying my son a new gaming system, either an Xbox 360 or a Playstation 3.  Over the weekend, I went to a Game Stop store to ask a few questions about the different systems and the games.  While talking to the clerk in the store, he gave me a copy of their Black Friday sales flier.

Right there on the front page of the flier were the two systems that I had been thinking about getting for my son.  I had been leaning towards the Xbox, because it is the least expensive of the two systems.  It will be on sale for $50 off.  In addition, one of the games that my son would want to play, Madden 2012 will also be on sale for $20 off.  So, if I can get to the store in time, I could get him the system and a game he wants for less than the normal price of the system.

The good news, for me at least, is that Game Stop is won of those stores that are opening up at midnight Thanksgiving night.  While there are some complaining that these stores should open later so people can fully enjoy their Thanksgiving holiday, it actually works better for me.  It is much easier for me to stay up past midnight than to get up at 4am, especially on a scheduled day off.

I have pretty much decided that I will head out to try to partake of this particular Black Friday event.  Hopefully I will get there early enough to get the Xbox and the Madden game.  About the only hardship that I can foresee for me is that it means that I won't be able to partake of much wine on Thanksgiving.  A small price to pay if I am able to get this for my son that night.

Black Friday

Today was Black Friday, the day when retailers try to lure customers in with killer deals to kick off the Christmas holiday selling season.  Generally speaking, I tend to avoid the shopping centers on this day.  I definitely do not go for any of the early morning, door buster specials.  I just don't like the crowds and traffic that go with the Black Friday frenzy.

That is not to say that I didn't try to take advantage of some Black Friday specials.  I have been debating for some time about buying a Kindle or Nook ebook reader.  I had been reluctant to go with the Kindle because I didn't want to be tied to only buying ebooks from Amazon, however, Amazon.com almost helped me make up my mind.  One of their Black Friday specials was a Kindle for only $89, a full $100 off the regular price.

This particular "Lightning Sale" was schedule to begin today at noon my time.  I checked out the Amazon website to see how to take advantage of the Lightning Sales.  As soon as the link was active to purchase the Kindle, I clicked on it.  Several thousand other folks had the same plan.  It took a couple minutes for the site to update, but I was unable to take advantage of the sale.  So for now, it is back to regular old fashioned books with paper pages.

I do like the convenience of shopping online, my disappointment at missing out on the Kindle promotion not withstanding.  One of my favorite sites to shop at online is Mr. Rebates. Mr. Rebates is a portal that gives you access to hundreds of online stores. Several major retailers can be found there like Best Buy and Barnes & Noble.

Once you have accumulated $10 in rebates, you can easily collect your rebates through PayPal.  I don't do a whole lot of shopping online, but since becoming a member of Mr. Rebates, I have received three payouts into my PayPal account.  I am only a few dollars away from being able to cash out again.  If you do any shopping online, you really should check out Mr. Rebates.

As a matter of full disclosure, Mr. Rebates does have a referral program.  If you happen to sign up for Mr. Rebates through one of the links on this blog, I would get a referral commission on any rebates that you would get through the program.  However, it in no way would impact the rebates you would earn had you signed up without using the links.