Today is Black Friday, which apparently  started on Thanksgiving Thursday at 10 PM, but runs through today. Well, not through the entire day according to the ads, even though it is Friday all day. Many, if not most, of the Black Friday sales ended at 1:00, or when they sold out, or when someone with a can of pepper spray decided to end the fun for others. Which is sad, but true.

I was well behind schedule before my feet touched the cold floor this morning. Early yesterday morning, I saw the paper flush with ads in the driveway. I didn’t go out to get it. Left it there. I knew what was in it. I knew the temptations that awaited me in the glossy ads and, I knew I wasn’t mentally ready to “go there.” My husband brought it in. I set it aside, unopened. It sat on the floor by my big, comfy chair all day. I finally opened the paper around 8 last night while the family tuned-in to watch Chevy Chase in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

In all my life, I have only braved the day after Thanksgiving crowd once. There was a computer on sale. I went home empty handed. All 3 sold before the line I stood in had finished shuffling into the store. Never again, I swore. Never.  Again. Unless, of course…

I mentally prepared myself before I opened the ads. For me, there is a frenetic, scarcity energy that seems to jump straight from the page and suck me in. I looked over my lists and reviewed my budget. I decided that if there was something on my list, for a really, really good price  (read: free), I might consider braving the Black Friday storm. Might–with a really big M. I neatly assembled a stack of ads that held the best possible “can’t resist deals.” I flipped through the first one. Nothing on my list, and nothing I couldn’t live without. The second and third were the same, though I paused longer and pondered adding this or that to my list. By the forth or fifth ad, I was almost convinced I needed that “bargain priced” 65 inch LCD TV, a new laptop, a house full of new linens, new luggage, shoes, clothing, and a rifle –even though I don’t shoot, but I’m sure that’s a really great price! It said so in the ad. And, I do love a good deal!

Though I still had a stack of ads to peruse, I set them all aside. They almost got me again. Almost. It was my younger daughter, A’s, laughter that broke the spell. I looked up; she and my husband were building with Legos. Legos, which are on my list this year, but not in my ads.

Setting the ads aside, I looked at each member of my family. We had spent a wonderful day together, just the four of us. We were blessed with more food than we could eat in a week and most importantly, with each other. And, we are blessed with two more days together before my husband returns to work. Two more days to laugh and play together. Two more days to prepare the house for the Christmas. Two more days to enjoy our abundant blessings.

So, today I will spend my Abundant Friday with my family, munching on leftovers, recalling memories of Christmas’s past as we empty the boxes of decorations, and sharing our hopes for the holidays ahead.

Then, come Sunday, while my husband is at work and the girls are at their youth group, I’ll  go online, list in hand, and beat the Cyber Monday crowds.

How did you spend your Black Friday?