Shopping!!

Well... I braved the day-after-Thanksgiving crowds with my mom this year. We got up early and headed out shopping Friday morning - with nothing in particular to get, and no particular place to go (makes you want to sing that last line doesn't it?).
First stop: Target. People are crazy. Some might say I am for getting up to go shopping on the busiest shopping day of the year, but I really do enjoy the people-watching part of it all. The lines were wrapped from the registers all the way to the back of the store and back around front. Crazy. So to keep more with my pace, we went to JoAnn Fabrics, Michaels, and the Flower Factory. For some reason, the women who hit these craft stores for holiday savings were a lot less psychotic than the ones who hit Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target.
By about 11 a.m. the crazy crowd had dispersed, and we could shop the retail chains without any problem at all, still getting the same bargains they waited in line for. But then again, I wasn't waiting for one of the 5 available video game systems or big-screen TVs. Just good deals on winter boots or hoodies.
Holiday Observation #1: Despite the jolly season, people are RUDE. I'm not sure if it's just lack of common sense, but in one store alone, my mom and I waited in line to pay for a few minutes, and when the cashier said "I can help the next available person" an old lady appeared out of nowhere with hands full of stuff, and walked right up to pay. Of course no one said anything to her. Why? Because she's OLD. Sorry... no excuse for being rude! What did she think the roped lines were for? Then I checked out and went to return my cart and a lady asked, "Are you done with that?" I went to hand it to her and a man walked up and took it from me. I assumed it was her husband. Wrong! Just a rude man. We both just looked at each other and shrugged.