My husband and I went out a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving and did our Christmas shopping in one day. Sure there were a handful of items here or there that needed to be picked up, but for the most part we were done - at least for our kids.
Then it happened.
After Thanksgiving at his cousins' house all we've heard about is the "Wii."
"Maybe we should get Daddy one of those for his birthday in the spring, do you think that would be good?"
"That's a really long time away, isn't it?"
"It's only a couple of months."
"Yeah, I think I'll ask Santa to bring it to our house and Daddy and I can share it - and we'll share it with you and Ravenna and Lily too!"
OH NO!!! Don't ask Santa for the IT toy that no one can get their hands on!! That's all we hear about night and day. "I'm going to ask Santa for a Wii! All I want Santa to bring is a Wii! I can't wait to get my W"ii!
Now, I realize we can sit him down and explain to him that maybe Santa can't get a Wii, but how do you tell this to a 4 year-old. I realize we can also explain to him that he's 4 and maybe should wait until he's older to ask Santa for a Wii. Here's the thing - my husband and I really want Santa to bring us a Wii too! However, knowing how hard they are to come by, we thought we would ask the Easter Bunny to leave one intsead.
OK - here's the deal I made with my husband. Find out who's going to get them in and exactly what I need to do get ahold of one. Toys R Us - no later than 5am on Sunday morning. Are you kidding me? I have to stand in line with all those video game losers and crazy people that camp out infront of stores all night? Then Coen runs through the room "When Santa brings me my Wii, I'll teach you how to bowl. OK, Mom?"
So there I am turning the alarm off at 4:15 am on Sunday morning. I stop at Sheets and get some very tasty French Vanilla Cappuccino. I pull into the parking lot thinking I could sit in the car a minute to enjoy my Cupp-o-joe, but there's already a pretty good size line going out there. The scoop we heard was that they were getting in between 20 and 30 games that morning. Well, I'm about the 25th person in line... they better be getting closer to 30, or I'm gonna be pissed.
I sat in line and chatted with the elderly lady infront of me. Her grandkids really wanted one, so she was there with the rest of us on a cold, rainy Sunday morning. Thank goodness there was a roof over our heads, or this could have been even more miserable. There was another guy behind me getting one for his 13 year-old daughter. Their kids were old enough to get that, if we can't find one before Christmas we can always get one later on. My kid doesn't get that. The game plan was; I'll stand in line once. If I get one, great! If not, he's getting a $10 gift card from Toys R Us with a little note from Santa that the store was out, but we can go get one ourselves. I think he would be OK with that.
I was a little curious, so I asked the people around me if they would hold my spot for me for just a minute. They were very nice to do so, so I wandered up to the front of the line. Up front was this blonde woman with a scarf wrapped over her whole face like the invisible man. She had about three blankets on her and was lounged back pretty far in her chair. Her name was Laurie. She wasn't very talkative, and actually a little rude. She said she had been there since 12:30. I then decided she wasn't rude, but cold, tired and probably sick of people asking her what time she got there. The next person in line arrived at 3:30. So from 12:30 to 3:30 AM this little blonde woman was camped out infront of a store all by herself over by Chapel Hill! I'm not saying it's a bad area - it doesn't matter what area it is - that's just not safe! She's lucky someone didn't find her body behind Marcs that next day! But she was able to stay safe, and her kid will have a happy Christmas now.
I arrived at exactly 5 am and didn't sit in my car to drink my cappuccino, I drank it in line. I seemed to be getting colder and colder as we stood there. Time was moving so slow & I had the wrong car. It was so early I wasn't even thinking -"grab a blanket & a lawn chair!" I thought of it on my way there, but not before I left the house. There was a group towards the front of the line wearing their hunting gear and had a heater blasting on them that was attached to their car battery. Now that's preparation! I couldn't even find my hat!
Around 7:30 the doors opened. A guy came out and passed out flyers with sales tickets attached to them. As he moved down the line the woman in front of me and I thought the pile might make it to us. We held our breath and waited. YES!!!!!! YES YES YES!!!! I called my husband to find out exactly what else I was supposed to buy to go along with this thing. When I got off the phone I looked behind me. There were five people standing there. Whew! I'm glad I didn't sit in my car to drink my coffee! Santa will not disappoint - at least this year. The 30, or so people behind me that had been waiting for hours in the cold and rain all left. They'll probably be back later to buy a gift card.
I'm sorry to all of you who've stood in line for hours outside of a store before it opens. You're not all crazy nuts. Most of you are parents who love your kids. Most of you are all thinking, "I'm crazy to be doing this, but it's worth it." I'm now a part of the club. This was my first time, but I'm sure it won't be my last. I'll remember to get out the camping gear next time!
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