Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011

Shopping tradition starts early

For the past few years, our routine on Thanksgiving night has been the same. The newspaper ads are strewn across the floor in search of the best bargains. Detailed lists are written out. The shopping strategy is devised on which stores to hit first, and the alarm clock is set for a ridiculously early hour.

But it's not me or my husband leading the quest for the deal of the year, but our 10-year-old daughter.

When Laurel learned about Black Friday, she realized that her love of getting up early might help her stretch her allowance dollars further and decided she wanted to hit the stores in the wee hours.

She appealed to my husband's desire for a new TV and they immediately became Black Friday partners in crime. And now every year on the day after Thanksgiving, she shows up in our bedroom well before 4 a.m., completely dressed and armed with her list.

One of my goals as a parent has always been to start family traditions, but I've realized that the best ones are those that happen on their own instead of by my declaration.

While I never would have thought that pre-dawn shopping would end up being a beloved father-daughter tradition, I have to admit that both of them look forward to it every year. And I'm betting that they continue hunting down the door busters together long after the pink Barbie scooter Laurel bought last year has been put in the attic.