josetann

While I hate the over-commercialization of Christmas...I do get excited when I see the first displays going up. I wonder if July is a bit early though. Naaaaah.

Currently watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. Been watching it all year actually. I know, it's hard to get in the mood with the heat wave we've been having. It's 62 now, high's going to hit 70. I'm sweating already.

I put down approximately the same. Basing this off of years past, not just the past year (due to several reasons we ended up not going out on BF, and didn't do a lot of Christmas shopping).

Ask her why she doesn't want you to go out. Maybe she's worried about finances, and figures if she can keep you from going, you won't spend tons of $$$ on BF. Maybe she wants to spend more time with you over the Thanksgiving break, and can't do that if you and the kids are snoozing all day Friday (after you get back from shopping). As for my wife, she hasn't camped out for BF yet (she will this year though), but has camped out for other things (once for Xbox 360, twice for the PS3). At worst she puts up with it, at best she enjoys it a bit.

I've never agreed with the "one per household" thing, hope they're not actually implementing that. If my wife and I are both in line the entire time, why should only one of us get a doorbuster? Anyways, just saying it's not for resale doesn't mean you can't actually sell it, just means if they catch you, that the person you sold it to might not be able to use it. Besides, there's an easy way around that. Give a ticket away to each person that buys a $50 paperclip from you (check ebay, this idea is used a lot for "not for resale" items).

The one year I sold a couple tickets, I went to the very back. If I had turned behind me and tried, I felt that they'd get angry (since they waited in line for so long, though a good bit less than we did). Back of the line, they just got there and are more than happy to buy a ticket for a doorbuster. Not saying that's the right way to do things, but as I try to avoid confrontation as much as possible, that's the way I'd do it.

Where's the "Visiting family and taking an RV and a station wagon with plenty of space for BF" option?

If you want to wait for the after Christmas sales, here's an idea. One year I bought my wife a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. That was our main tree, and it was soooo easy to put up (pull out of box, put on lone red ball, and bend over to make it look extra pitiful). Just can't put a lot of big presents under it (maybe that's a good thing!).

I don't have a problem with that, as long as all their friends/family are actually there, and not at home curled up in a nice warm bed asleep until an hour before opening. The latter is something that does upset me.

Our old one had lights that could be replaced, except for one per strand (it was glued in for some reason or another). You can guess what happened. Got a tree last year, wanted one that looked nice but had NO lights. It was either get an el-cheapo tree, or get one with lights. Took hours to get all the lights off the one we got. I'm just particular, I grew up with a tree with multi-colored lights that had the different strands blink on and off and different times, and wanted the same thing for this tree.

Sure, unless it was food with chocolate, and they were also selling access to port-a-potties.

Careful, you could be "stealing" a doorbuster from someone behind you a few places in line who wants to buy it for themself. :) I think it's no different than going out, standing in line for hours on end, and either selling the ticket or buying the product and then sell it for some more $$$ on ebay or craigslist. You're basically having someone pay you for the time you've spent out in the cold, waiting in line(s), whatever. Personally, I think there's nothing wrong with it (just don't grab every single ticket, unless you're prepared to actually buy that item). If it wouldn't end up being much extra trouble, I'd just charge X amount over the purchase price of any item you get for them. Here in TN I'd probably charge 20% over the ad price (9.75% or so for tax, 10.25% or so for me). Charging for each store you have to go to might be good in theory, but what if you can only get two out of five items? Or what if they have you buying a couple dozen things, since you're charging per trip and not per item? If you charge per item, then it's no big deal if you don't get every item on their list (and make sure they understand you may not be able to get all the doorbusters they want).

My wife is a nurse, might have to check this out. Take a copy of the ad with you, just in case. When I worked at CC (where we could buy items for cost), often times there were loss leaders in the ad, where the employee price was actually higher than what was in the ad. The loss leaders were there to get people in the door. Hopefully they'd get a higher end PC (that the store could actually make a profit on), and regardless we'd try to push accessories and the warranty.

Tried, no dice. Now my wife isn't speaking to me. I tried to explain it was for BF.

This is why I do it the way I do. Only get tickets for items I plan on purchasing. If someone wants to buy the ticket from me, so be it. But I'm not getting tickets for the sole purpose of selling them. I'll probably get between 2-4 tickets total (cheap desktop, laptop, maybe tv, and whatever else grabs my eye). I won't be grabbing a ticket for every item. Of course, I see how it could be hard for someone else to see that. Someone behind me in line just sees someone getting some tickets then selling a couple. Might just take a page out of a previous BF; if someone behind me is selling tickets, offer to let them sell mine and split the money. I'm really not a good salesperson.

Well, what exactly does she mean by "not doing Christmas?" If she's expecting to not have to buy anyone presents but is expecting others to get some for her, then that's one thing. But maybe she doesn't want to have to visit a dozen people, go buy presents for everyone (time/money constraints), and isn't expecting to receive Christmas presents from anyone. If that's the case, I'd ask if it's alright to get her kids something (you mentioned she should buy presents for the kids, I assume you meant hers), and honor her wishes.

Buy a non-frozen turkey. If you get a frozen one, it needs several days to thaw out in the fridge. Don't just put it in a day or two before, it'll still be frozen solid on the inside (and good luck getting the giblets out). If you go with turkey breast only, might want to make sure that's ok with everyone. Last year my wife's family convinced her to go this route, we spent a good bit more money than usual, and turned out my brother only eats dark meat. Argh! Don't stress out making everything perfect. Canned vegetables are fine. Instant mashed potatoes are fine (I prefer them to the real thing anyways). Rolls that you just need to brown are fine. If you're doing all this yourself, I'd try limiting yourself to two truly home-cooked items, not counting the turkey. Maybe you can make the dressing and some pies, and the rest is canned or instant. Get the guys to help out. Assign them tasks that they can't possibly screw up. My wife has made the mistake of having me get the turkey ready (which is why I now know to give it several days to thaw or buy non-frozen) and of letting me brown the rolls (anything that can be browned, can be burned). Microwaving some canned vegetables and making instant mashed potatoes has proven to be mostly guy-proof (if the potatoes are too thick add milk and butter, if too milky then throw in more flakes, hard to mess up!). Last suggestion, go ahead and get whatever canned goods you need now. The popular stuff can be hard to find the day before (this goes for New Year's too).

How old is your kid? How bad are the crowds in your area? What will the weather be like? Can't really tell you without knowing all that. If the crowds aren't that crazy and the weather's good, then bringing an infant could be acceptable. If it's snowing/sleeting, temps in the teens, then they need to be a good bit older (and be prepared to leave the line you stayed in all day and night, they may not be able to handle it that long). If the crowds are really bad, then wait until they're big enough to run over old people with your shopping cart while you grab all the doorbusters out of their carts. Teaches them the value of teamwork. Anyways, if you think your child will be safe and won't be miserable, I say go for it. If not, then they need to stay at home.

Once my wife's sister was interested in a doorbuster laptop or desktop that BB had. Told her she'd have to go in line as soon as Thanksgiving dinner was over (which was what I was doing). Couldn't just get it for her, as I was going for the same thing (limit one per person and all that). Of course, she tries going out the next day at a decent hour and is amazed that she couldn't find any of the doorbusters. I'm of the opinion that if they want it that bad, they can wait in line with us. I'll use any excuse to not do their shopping for them (i.e. we're already getting the item for ourselves, or can't just run over to Wal-Mart since we'll be in line for an hour or two at BB, etc.). If they'd be willing to stand in line and help us out, then I'd be happy to help them out.

I'd at least keep giving gifts to the kids. Just accept that they won't call you themselves and tell you thanks, even if you see them in person a month later they won't think to say thanks. Doesn't mean they don't enjoy it though. Heck, as a kid it was sometimes hard for me to keep up with who gave me what toy. And as an adult, it's even harder to keep up with who gave our son what toy. "Man he really likes that tent, not sure who gave it to him...oh you gave it to him, well thanks!" As for getting used gifts, why not give used gifts in return? It's possible they just rummage through the goodwill pile and wrap up some stuff, or maybe they're living beyond their means and simply can't afford to buy new gifts for everyone. If they say something bad about the used gift, then simply tell them you still have one of their used gifts and if you misunderstood the intention, you'd gladly exchange them. At any rate I wouldn't get too worked up over it. Luckily we don't have that problem. We don't send gifts through the mail, we're able to see most everybody just before or just after Christmas.

Yes, you can often find better deals throughout the year than on BF. There are still reasons to shop on BF though. #1. The atmosphere. I love finding any excuse to camp out in front of a store for days at a time. #2. You can spend a lot of time hunting for deals throughout the year. You'll find a laptop here, a desktop PC there, a couple months later you'll find a good deal on a tv, etc. Or you can go on BF and get a good deal on everything in one fell swoop. Maybe not the absolute best deal, but a really good deal nonetheless. #3. If you time it right, you can get all of your holiday shopping done within five hours or less on BF. Have a game plan, run in, get your stuff, run out and hit the next store. If you intend to get some big ticket items (like whatever uber-cheap PCs best buy has this year), you'll need to add in time to camp out, but otherwise you can get most everything you need in just a few hours time. #4. A lot of times, prices on certain electronic items are slashed just before or right at BF, in time for the holiday rush. For example, this year I think that LCD TVs are going to have drastic price cuts, especially lower end models that are being phased out (720p is plenty for me). Prices already seem to be falling, several great deals can be had now. I think the deals will get even better the closer to BF we get.

Past two or three year's we've stayed at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville for a night or two. Last year we stayed the night before Christmas Eve, so we checked out on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, we have breakfast with my Mom and if he's not working, my brother. Been going to Shoney's for probably over 15 years now, but it still feels not quite like tradition. Originally we went to a place called Pancake House. At some point my grandmother decided she wanted to go somewhere else, and we ended up at Shoney's. Anyways, we tend to hang around my mom's for a bit before heading over to my dad's. His side of the family has most of the festivities on Christmas Eve. We used to go to someone else's house and have a big get-together, now we pretty much just go to his house and stay there until late Christmas Eve. Then we head home (which is 3+ hours away), arrive exhausted, and are pretty tired on Christmas day (which so far I've insisted we spend at home). May need to tweak it this year, I'd like to get home earlier on Christmas Eve. Anyways, within about a week past Christmas we head out to my wife's side of the family and have a get together at her sister's house (my wife gets Thanksgiving, her sister gets Christmas). Last year was our first Christmas in our new house so far from our family (we used to be 15-60 minutes away from immediate family, now it's 3 hours or more), so we've still got some adjusting to do. We'll have a more solid routine within a few years I'm sure.

Think of the RV just like a regular vehicle. We'll have a tent. If others in line are taking turns, i.e. only one person stays out while others stay in their vehicle, then I won't feel bad doing the same thing. Since it has a generator, we can use it to power some heaters to be used outside, a tv, and other stuff. If no one's holding a place in line for others to warm up in their car, then we'll do that too (someone will have to stay in if our son comes along, but we'll just have one person in our group not get tickets, they'll be staying in the RV anyways during the stampede when the doors open). So in essence, we wouldn't be cheating any more than others in line with regards to staying out in the cold, and will be more than willing to share some heaters, let others watch our tv if it doesn't bother them (if it does, we'll keep it off and the generator too if need be), free hot cocoa, a cheap bathroom (which we won't advertise), etc. It'd be great if we could get a bunch of friends to come along, but don't think that'll happen.

We're planning on being in Clarksville, TN this year.

Here you go: http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.1014 Site is reputable. Do expect 2-3 weeks to get your order, and don't expect much help if you get the wrong item shipped out or if you have problems (they do sometimes respond, but once you pay for return shipping, it's not really worth it). That said, they will actually ship something out, and most of the time it's what you ordered and works fine. If you order Christmas lights from them (prices didn't look spectacular, but not horrible either), make sure you get 110volt as many seem to be 220v.