Crazy shopping weekend with the kids

My philosophy on this shopping weekend is to go out not expecting to buy anything but enjoying.  Shopping does not mean buying.  Try to find one day, where you can slow down, take in the sites and just enjoy the crazy stuff that's on the store shelves.  Then perhaps drink some hot chocolate at the local coffee shop and enjoy watching the holiday shoppers running back and forth.  My kids have heard about black Friday over the years, so this year we made it a family affair.

The difficulty with black Friday is that my girls want to come along.  Although my one daughter now knows what she is getting for Christmas, it was a bargain hard to pass up, even with my daughter standing right there.  I surprised myself, since it was the only purchase I made.  My kids however had saved their money and went nuts at the craft store.

On Saturday, I felt strongly to support our small business.  For lunch, we went to a local restaurant that buys local produce and wine and then we wandered the streets of the quaint shops of our downtown area.  We even found a Mars bar, which we bought and split up into four pieces when we got home.

Our downtown area

My daughter's artistic view of downtown, guess what she wants for Christmas

More shops on the side streets