What I Really Know About Day-After-Thanksgiving Shopping

My frugal mother, who was raised during the depression, shopped cautiously and taught me that “a bargain is no bargain if you didn’t need it in the first place”. I had to wonder how many of “my” shoppers ended up with a “bargain” they didn’t want or need (or maybe, afford) and which probably would end up in a yard sale the next summer. As for me, Mom would have been proud…I went home with no shopping bags, my cash flow untouched and credit cards unused.

By Kaye Moser

Friendship Forging

For over 30 years, my best friend and I have shopped on the Friday after Thanksgiving. When we first started this tradition, we would take a bus to downtown Columbus and shop at the department stores and the newest city mall. Back then, it was all about the gifts and the sales. We carried around special coupons, made lists and helped each other find that perfect gift, stopping only when hunger or nature forced us to.

Over the years, families and lists grew smaller. Downtown stores closed and we moved our excursion to the suburbs. Our priorities changed. I moved about two hours away so the trip became more about our time together and less about the perfect gift. Our husbands would spend the day golfing and meet us when the stores closed for dinner. As we got older, our sit down breaks became more frequent. Oh sure, we still got to the mall at 6AM, but we would stop for breakfast first! We now shopped for ourselves, hitting the shoe, perfume and the jewelry departments first. We would try on shoes we did not need, spritz perfume we would never use, and look at gems far above our budget. We were together as girlfriends, and this is what girlfriends do. The rest of the year we see each other occasionally, but this day always reminded us of the deep friendship we have. We come together once a year for this and it seems as though no time has passed at all.

Last year my friend was ill. Although she has made a complete recovery, it was the first time since 1975 we have not shopped. I realized that the shopping was just an excuse to spend time together and just be girlfriends for awhile. I have made a promise to myself that we will not wait to get together, we will spend more time more often. Of course, we will always have a good breakfast first!

By Peggy Miller

The AARP Bulletin's "What I Really Know" column comes from our readers. Each month we solicit short personal essays on a selected topic and post some of our favorites in print and online.

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