The purchases this year were pretty simple, as I wasn’t after any “big ticket” items or even toys for that matter…

Office Max…I picked up a memory card, some CD-R’s, some pens and most importantly, Norton Internet Security 2008. Savings…well over $100. And they started the online sales on Thursday, which as a bonus.

Circuit City…DVD’s, DVD’s and more DVD’s. They had an amazing sale on DVD’s and all I can say is that maybe the huge discounts are related to the fact the HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs are starting to roll out pretty heavily. But DVD quality beats VHS by far and I don’t own a HDTV, so I’m a happy shopper. I am a little surprised that they offered so many online, but man was that much easier than hunting them down in the store. Savings…I can’t give a good estimate, but it was a lot.

Target…two DVD’s at $3.98 each. I actually had my brother-in-law pick these up. Savings…probably $18-20 or so based on retail prices.

So I’m happy how this worked out and will probably try to do my shopping online for what little shopping I have left to do. I did that one year and it is truly amazing and so much easier. Order, pay, check the mail, wrap, give away. But I still like to buy clothes in person as I can’t get a good grasp on what I’m buying online. Plus, doesn’t the feel of the fabric make a huge impact on the buy or don’t buy decision?

Salivate with me if you will…

Snacks & Appetizers

• Summer sausage, cheese (cheddar, swiss & mozzarella) & crackers (Keebler Club & Town House). And toss in a cheese ball for good measure.
• Deviled eggs. Is there a more tasty, more addictive food that’s not that good for you? I could eat deviled eggs.
• Ham roll ups. My mom has made these for years, usually on New Years Eve.
• Ham salad on tiny pumpernickel bread. Addicting for some reason.

The Main Course

• Turkey and dressing (and possibly stuffing if I’m in the mood). Good tender, juicy & moist turkey with that awesome aroma.
• Spiral sliced, glazed ham. Need I say more?
• Mashed potatoes. The real thing with plenty of butter. Topped with gravy or noodles or just plain, it’s all good.
• Rolls. Warm and soft also with plenty of butter.
• Cranberry Sauce. Yes, I like the stuff that comes out of a can. But if you want to whip your own up, knock me out.

Treats

• Pumpkin pie. I’m not sure what it is about pumpkin pie, but it just hits the spot. And that’s even after being in a pumpkin pie eating contest last year.
• Peanut butter fudge. Truly tasty.
• Bourbon balls. For some reason Jack Daniels laced chocolate treats hit the spot, even for non-drinkers. In the “liquor foods” category these have to be right up there with rum cake and bread pudding (with rum soaked raisins).
• Buckeyes. These aren’t something that are a common staple at functions that I attend, but when I find some you’ll know I’ll dig in.
• Cheap “holiday cookies”. You know what I’m talking about. The box or bag of colored sugar coated cookies that you can pick up for a buck at any grocery store. These aren’t the best thing in the world, but they bring back childhood memories, as my grandma always seemed to have these around. Eat them with a cup of coffee and they suddenly seem a bit more fancy.
• Mint M&M’s. I am so disappointed that these are a seasonal item, but rest assured, there’s an extremely good chance you’ll find a bag of these in my house well into the next fall. Last year I think I bought about a dozen bags and have just now broken into my last one since they’re on the shelves again. (Tip: store these in the refrigerator or freezer.)

So, what makes your personal favorites list? I left a lot of options off of the list, so please chime in.

This ad is from the coupon section found in the Sunday Indianapolis Star in November 2007.  For some reason Thanksgiving ads don’t seem to get much attention as everyone is eager to roll out the Christmas ads the moment Halloween is over.  That said, there wasn’t that wide of a selection to choose from.  But there are numerous Christmas ones showing up (which I promise not to post until after Thanksgiving).

Here’s the list (and it’ll be updated as other sites pop up)…

• Black Friday 2007 – [RSS Feed]
• BlackFriday.info – [RSS Feed]
• Black-Friday.net
• Black Friday Ads – [Mobile Version | RSS Feed]
• Black Friday @ GottaDeal.com – [Mobile Version | RSS Feed]
• DaddyODeals
• DealsPl.us – [RSS Feed]
• DealTaker Official Black Friday 2007 Ads
• TheBlackFriday.com

If you know of any sites that I don’t have listed, please let me know.

Related, Wal-Mart has already started the “deal wars”, so it’s likely that you’ll be able to snag some good sales before the “official” Christmas shopping season.

The kids took in quite a haul last night since the weather was nice and since we took them to my parents neighborhood again this year since people actually give out candy there (including full sized candy bars…and hot dogs)…for some reason most people/households in my neighborhood don’t partake in much of anything that involves decorating, landscaping, mingling, etc.  That’s fine I suppose, but it makes for a boring Halloween through New Years.

(Our first Christmas in our house I lit up the entire roof with Christmas lights…which made it easy for people to find our house (and gave me quite an electric bill)…but lately I’ve just stuck with some “icicle” lights and can tell anyone who hasn’t been to our house to look for the house with Christmas lights…and I’m not exaggerating.)

Anyway, back to Halloween for a moment…

We didn’t get started until around 7 pm (so much for the “official” trick-or-treating hours) and wrapped things up around 8:15 pm or so.  Last year it was so cold that I think the kids might have lasted 45 minutes (probably less), but last night was truly ideal…a little brisk but not too cold, on the brink of raining but not raining, with the wind howling and rustling leaves down the street.  Very ideal indeed.

But Halloween is over and now it’s time to start talking turkeys, pies, football and Christmas and New Years parties.  There are only three weeks until Thanksgiving and eight and a half weeks left in the entire year.  Where, oh where, does the time go?

Anyway, we had our usual hit list of places to go just in case they had something we were interested in, and this year all four places we went had what we wanted…and that’s a first.

Stop 1 was Office Max at 5am. I picked up a memory card for my camera and a few small items. Small crowd of people, which was good since the sale item were not marked and for some reason checkout was a bit slow.

Stop 2 was Best Buy around 5:15am. As always, I have no idea why we go there, but we usually do and it is always your best bet for a crowd since the guys and the ladies love the place. We picked up a few DVDs and stood in the checkout line for about an hour, which was better than the hour and a half or so that we stood in line last year, but my guess is that a lot of people didn’t realize that they opened at 5am this year instead of the usual 6am in previous years.

Stop 3 was Target around 6:30am. A little busy, but not bad at all and they had the few things that we wanted. There were maybe three people in front of us in line. This was much better than previous years.

Stop 4 was Radio Shack around 6:50am. I picked up a headset to use with Skype
and a new pair of headphones for the podcast since my old ones shorted out on me. Pretty empty and no line at all.

We were on the road and headed home around 7am, just in time to beat the sun up.

The only usual stop that we didn’t make this year was Menards, but they didn’t have much of interest and there’s never much of a crowd there.

Now I need to get the kids down for a nap sometime this morning so I can get a short nap in myself. I’m so tired that I spaced the need of a coffee filter to brew a pot of coffee and had to clean that mess up and start over. And we’ve got a long night of Karnie Christmas II planning and writing in store, so the sleep will be much needed.

• Black Friday @ GottaDeal.com
• Black Friday 2006 — The folks are using the Watershed Studio WordPress Email Notification Plugin
• Black Friday Ads — [PDFs]

If you want to see the PDFs I’d suggest getting them now since some stores are demanding that they be removed (like Best Buy). Ah, the joys of Christmastime are lingering in the air…