The early bird catches the worm.

I am not terribly fond of shopping. Sure, as a teenager I had my fair share of mall visits where I'd try on a dozen outfits, none of which I could afford and few of which actually looked good on me and walk away empty-handed most of the time. As a mother, my idea of shopping includes three kids in a Costco cart begging for free samples, only to throw the food in my face declaring "I don't like this one!" after a tiny bite. If I'm lucky I can browse the clothing section for, oh, about sixty seconds while the wee ones are distracted by tic-tacs, or animal crackers, or whatever crusty food item resides in the bottom of my purse. At that point, I will grab an item of clothing that looks semi-attractive and throw it in the cart because after all, at Costco, I can return it after wearing it, washing it, rolling in the mud in it as long as it's within ninety days of my purchase. Note: I don't really do any of those things, but it sure is nice to know that I could.
Back to my original point: I don't really like shopping. But I am also somewhat of a cheapskate. So braving the after-Thanksgiving Day sales is a bit of a temptation each year. Let me think, would I rather shell out $20 for a cheap Disney princess dress that will be rags a few weeks after Christmas or pay $9.99 and get a matching crown and pair of shoes? I realize that we're talking about very small numbers here, but let's face it, to a penny pincher, they matter. They matter a lot. Even so, I decided last night that at this point in my life, my sleep is worth more than those $10 so I went to bed without any intentions of waking up to an alarm at 3:30 a.m.
3:43 a.m. Anna wakes me up to tell me that Lily was in her spot. What this means is, Lily had positioned herself perpendicular to Anna on the side-by side futon mattresses that they have been sharing at grandma and grandpa's house. Her feet were in Anna's face and Anna did not like it. So I heard the drama, quickly fixed the situation, and crawled back into my cozy bed.
4:00 a.m. Still awake. I decide that if I'm going to be up, I should be up and at 'em.
4:03 a.m. I start my freezing car, complete with the ads that I had set aside last night with dog-eared pages indicating things that I would like to buy if for some reason I find myself awake and available to go shopping at 4 o'clock in the morning.
4:15 a.m. Arrive at Kohl's. They had the cutest kid-sized hooded towels that I knew the girls would totally dig so even though they had opened at 4, I hoped that I could snag a few. It was a vain hope. Failure #1.
4:45 a.m. Arrive at Target. I thought they opened at 5 so I was pretty pleased with my position in line, until I realized ten minutes later that they weren't opening the doors until 6. Failure #2.
5:00 a.m. Enter ShopKo parking lot. I ran in and dashed to the toy section and managed to grab the aforementioned princess dresses, 2 stocking holders, 2 board games, and a pair of gloves. Success! Bonus: I ran into an old friend from high school who kept me company in the queue that wound around the store before ending at the checkout counter.
5:45 a.m. I'm back at Target. The line in front of the store is about a mile long. I race out of my car to stake my claim on a place in the ridiculous thing. After spending 10 minutes searching frantically for the scooters, I grab the last one on the shelf. Success again! Another bonus: I bumped into a girl from my neighborhood in Boise who was also in town visiting grandparents.
So now I'm only out about $60 and my Christmas shopping is pretty near done. I still despise shopping - but the bargain-hunter in me is alive and well.