Every year I venture downtown to experience Black Friday. Now my Black Friday is not the thing of legends. There is no pushing, shoving or people being sent off to the hospital, but rather simply enjoying the buzz of the city and the commencement of the one time of year everyone seems to be in a festive spirit. I skip the parade and shop the surrounding parade route stores before they are flooded with shoppers. Typically I sleep in until at least 7am, never wait in lines more than thirty minutes and I have been known to score items at almost 90% on occasion. I set my expectations low and usually end up walking away with a little something for myself too.
Macy's Holiday Parade.
Christmas Tree outside Westlake Mall.
Christmas time at Pike Place Market is truly the best.
I always want to buy a fresh cut Christmas tree from here, but our tradition has been to pick one up at the local tree lot and then carry it home.
Carriage rides through the city.
I always think it would be fun to buy some mistletoe, but I never do. After a full morning of shopping, Cameron and I met up for our annual lunch at Palomino's. After Cameron gets off work we go and pick up our Christmas tree.
Since we will be away this Christmas, we settled on a smaller tree than usual. This meant Cameron could sip cider while he walked it home. Only in Seattle could we look so hip carrying our tree home, hot drink in hand.
And then our tree had an experience of a lifetime, a ride in an elevator up to our lovely place.
Since it is not even December yet and our shopping is done and our Christmas Tree is set up, we feel ahead of the game and ready to enjoy the true meaning of Christmas.