Random Pre-Black Friday Thought

I'm guessing anyone with three young kids like I do knows how difficult going shopping is with kids. For those who don't, on the scale of difficulty it ranks ahead of creating a house of cards using the entire deck after 6 Red Bulls and a handful of No-Doze, but just behind juggling razor-blade-handled flaming torches while sitting on a running jackhammer.

So here's my random thought as I get ready to retire for the night, knowing Black Friday will be staring at me in the morning when I wake up at a way-too-early hour:

What if we took the three kids out at 4 a.m. for Black Friday shopping? I think neither Crystal nor I would make it out alive, much less get any shopping done at all.

And no, this picture isn't blurry. That's just the frequency Mason vibrates at inside any retail outlet.

One shining bit of optimism, though: We struck first in the Battle for Christmas Present Supremacy by picking up our first major item for one of the kids. I won't say what it is, but it starts with Deva and ends with Stator, and we'll just say Christmas is set for Daddy AND Riley. And it was 30 bucks off and we didn't have to get into a fistfight with a chick wearing Sarah Palin glasses to get it.