I got into the habit of shopping on Thanksgiving when I lived overseas. I’d usually spend the morning with my family, we’d eat an early dinner at around 2pm and then I’d head out to do some shopping while folks lounged in front of the TV watching football (which I did NOT want to watch) or hung out with their friends (which I did not need to supervise.)
It was a really nice way to get a jump start on holiday shopping — a Thursday afternoon is not generally high shopping time in either Panama or the Philippines, so it was fabulous. No crowds. No kids.
TW and I started doing Thanksgiving day shopping but we’d do it in the morning while the teens were sleeping and the little kids were lounging around with legos or books or a movie on TV. A trip to the drugstore for stocking stuffers on Thanksgiving morning was a great way to knock out some shopping without a lot of stress. When we realized that K-mart was also open on Thanksgiving, that just made things all the better. Holiday pajamas, socks, dvds, odds and ends that just jumped into the cart — no crowds, no kids. It was fabulous.
A couple of hours of early morning shopping, then we head home for an hour nap. Afterwards, we’re up and cooking, hanging with kids (if they’re here), pulling out holiday decorations, and just generally kicking off the winter holiday knowing that we’ve gotten a nice bit of holiday shopping out of the way and we didn’t have to fight the crowds to do it.
Thanksgiving is one of the few days a year that I actually look forward to shopping. No joke — it’s stress-free shopping and I love it.