day five

20 days

24 hours

45 minutes

26 seconds

I just woke up from an AMAZING sleep.  From 9 last night until noon today.  I love my sleep, but it's very rare that I sleep like that.  Who's to blame? Black Friday.  I'm sure all that shopping did you in too!  I bet you found the BEST sales when you were running through the mall and parking lots hysterically to be first in line to get the Thanksgiving day sales.  While you were pushing through the crowds and yelling for sales clerks I was working those sales.

That's right. I went into work at 7pm Thanksgiving Day and worked until 7am Black Friday.  And then again 1pm-7pm Black Friday.  Needless to say, I was pretty delusional by the end and my 15 hour sleep was totally needed. 

So, with all of that being said.  During your Christmas season shopping, be sure to thank those who are working in the store.  My best moments yesterday were spent talking with people, hearing about their Thanksgiving meal, the deals they found, and just how they were spending Christmas.  My worst moment, however, were spent standing with my jaw dropping at the things said to me and the things I saw.  

I've worked plenty of Black Friday's at Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch but yesterday topped those two previous experiences.  I made sure I was overly happy to be there, even at 3 am when I thought I couldn't go on and my feet were just going to fall off.  Amidst the theft and cranky moms who wanted to buy the entire store for their daughters (I worked on the Betty's side) there were amazing people who took time to thank me for taking time away from my family to work on Thanksgiving.

I love to make people happy.  I love talking to people and learning about them.  There was one family who were in the store that I got to talk to and it really just made my day.  She came in singing the music (at that point Ava and I were jumping around singing and dancing from the amount of caffeine consumed) and she was even dancing with us.  Let me mention that this woman was a grandmother and her granddaughter was married.  She wanted to know the best deals and where to be in the store for the best sale.  She continued through the store dancing the whole way and I thought that would be the last I would see her.  

On her way out, she made sure to walk back through my room to talk to me again.  She and her granddaughter made sure to show me their deals and how excited they were.  Then we got to talking about wedding things (I mean, I can't think of anything else right now) and her granddaughter had just gotten married and we were talking about our amazing deals on our rings.  All three of us got to tell our ring stories but the grandmothers was my favorite.  It was her great grandmothers stone set into her band.  The second she began talking about it, her eyes sparkled with tears in the corners, showing me how much family truly means to her.  Their little family had so much love and happiness.  I mean, what 80 year old do you know that dances through a store of ridiculously loud music and isn't happy?  She was the first woman in the 24 hour total hours I worked that truly thanked me and hugged me for taking time to be there for the shoppers.  

Talk about taking time to be thankful.

Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 5:19-20

I've heard a lot on the radio this week about being Thankful, but not only that, but they have said, give, so that others can have the opportunity to be thankful as well.  I was given the opportunity to be thankful, and by working, I gave others the opportunity to be thankful as well.  I'm thankful that God provided me with the strength and stamina to work for so long to provide others with opportunities of thankfulness.  

20 days

23 hours

55 minutes

3 seconds

meg