Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Black Friday Memories

I come by my love of shopping honestly - I come from a looooong line of shoppers. Starting when I was a very tiny girl, my mom, grandmother, and I would go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. We didn't do the 5 am door busters at the big box stores - that's not really our style. (No piece of electronic equipment is worth getting run over for, in my opinion). Rather, we would go to SouthPark in Charlotte, and hit Ivey's (miss that store!) and Belk's, and the other shops in the mall. Then we would hit some of the boutiques around town as well. We'd end our morning with a very casual lunch at the Eckard's lunch counter, which, while it wasn't fancy, had the best hot dogs I have ever eaten (The cole slaw was out of this world. Mmmm). It was such a fun, lovely tradition, and it is one of my favorite memories.

My darling grandmother passed away a few weeks before Miss Priss was born, and I always like to think that Miss Priss's arrival was a way to make our little trio whole again. Last year, we were in NC for Thanksgiving, so my mom and I took Miss Priss out for a little while on Black Friday. It was a bittersweet moment. We're with Mr. Belle's family this year for Thanksgiving, so I won't be able to shop with my mom, but Miss Priss and I will carry on the tradition (even at 2.5, she's a fine little shopper already), even if we just go to a few selected stores. I'll be thinking of the sweet memories of my grandmother the whole time.

Many wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving with the people you love!

2 comments:

Michelle said...

What a wonderful story...so sweet! I come from a long line of shoppers as well. Today in anthropologie, the salesgirls were commenting on what a good shopper my baby was. I told them that my mother had him out shopping the day after we were home from the hospital! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Cathy said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you too, and I hope you and Miss Priss have a wonderful day shopping on Friday!