BLACK FRIDAY

I had a really good night's sleep.  I woke up earlier than Joe and read for a little while before going back to bed and sleeping for another hour.  I was tired!  When I finally got up, I looked out the window and saw it was a beautiful sunny day.

After we got ourselves together, we packed up and decided to put some of our luggage in the car before going back to do any last minute things and check out.  We were going to go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  Joe has a gift card that he got for his birthday back in May and we were going to use that.

As we went out a man stopped Joe and asked if he was a veteran.  Yes, he is!  They started talking.  I was cold so I went to the car, put in what I had, and came back.  They continued to talk.  After awhile I gave Joe the car keys and went into the lobby.  I sat there as they talked on.

LaQuinta allows you to bring your dog with you.  There was a couple sitting in the chairs across from me each with a golden retriever.  One of the dogs started coming to me and his owner pulled him back.  I asked the lady if I could pet him, and she said yes.  They were saying they keep their dogs under control because not everyone likes dogs and their dogs are big.  I ended up talking to them about 10 minutes as Joe and the other guy talked on outside.

The hotel's breakfast area was smelling so good.  Free breakfast comes with your room.  I hadn't looked there because I figured it was the usual Danish and coffee.  But it was over 12 hours since I had last eaten and I was hungry!  I decided to get something to eat while I was waiting for Joe.

I was very surprised when I went into the room.  There was creamed chipped beef and biscuits, oatmeal, 3 kinds of cold cereal, scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs with ham, fruit, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, 3 kinds of juice, coffee, Danish, muffins, 4 kinds of bread, and donuts.  A lot of people were there.  I now understood why.  So I got myself some fruit and sat down at a table where I could see the front door (and Joe).  Finally they shook hands and I saw Joe walk toward the car.  When he came in I waved to him and he came over.  We decided with all this good food to stay where we were for breakfast.

Again, I can't say enough about the staff.  The lady in charge of the breakfast room came over to us, introduced herself, and asked if everything was OK and if we needed anything.  She said she remembered us from when we were there last month and she looked forward to seeing us again when we came back.

We went to go back to the room to get the rest of our things and I realized I did not have the keys.  We went to the front desk and they told us that someone had found it where I had been sitting in the lobby and turned them in.  How nice!  They gave them back to us and we went and finished taking everything out.  We will be back!

Then it was time for Black Friday shopping.  I NEVER go shopping on Black Friday.  The only place I wanted to go to was Lenox because they were having a 40% off everything in the store sale.  That's where we headed first.  The prices were great and I still spent over $100.  But I got a lot of Christmas gifts.

Joe wanted to go to Cracker Barrel to shop so we headed there next.  We went in and it was wall-to-wall people.  And more kept coming in.  You literally could not move.  Now the store is crowded with just a few people, but this was ridiculous.  I couldn't take it so I waited for Joe outside.  I can't stand being in a place where you can't even look at an object without someone brushing against you or bumping into you.  But sitting outside I was able to take pictures of their awesome decorations.

I was tired and I told Joe I was ready to call it a day and just go home.  So we headed that way, but decided to stop off in Kitchen Kettle on the way and get our picture taken with Star the reindeer.  Every year Kitchen Kettle brings in Star and people are allowed to get their picture with her.  There is a handler and another guy who you give your camera to and he takes the pictures.

We got in line and were surprised at how fast the line moved.  There were a lot of people, but many of them were in groups so it wasn't as bad as it looked.

It was so much fun to pose with Star.  Her fur was so soft.

On the way out I was looking at this sign shop.  I told Joe I liked them, but they were expensive.  I decided to go to the ladies room before leaving and when I came back Joe was talking to the lady and they were choosing a sign to put on the front of our house with our house number on.  There was an iron holder and the sign which slips right in.  Joe had picked out two designs and asked me which I liked best.  I chose one and he got it.

When we left Kitchen Kettle we headed home.  We wanted to see the National Christmas Museum before it closes, but I didn't want to be too late on the roads.  So we will go back out later in December.

We made good time getting home.  When we were back in Philly we headed to Lowe's to get a gift card for our friend Rich's birthday.  (You'll get to see the great party we went to tomorrow.)  I got a few other things we needed (you'll see my other project too) and finally headed home.

I made a Thanksgiving style dinner -- baked chicken, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole.  It was good.  And then, surprise, I crashed and slept the entire evening and night.

But it was worth it because we had an awesome time.  We would definitely do this again.

Kathy

29 days to Christmas

36 days to New Year's Day