Boy, was my Thanksgiving weekend an eventful one.
It started off on Wednesday afternoon with my sister, her husband and two foster care girls that she helps raise at her home arriving earlier than expected. The girls themselves were quite nice to meet. They wanted to go see "Coco" in theaters and I could have come with them, but I was asked to come into work the day before and couldn't let my supervisor down (most of the other employees didn't even want to help out), so I had to miss out on that screening.

Thursday was the big day. My mother did a lot of preparing and cooking for much of the morning before more guests would arrive. We had it so that the dining table would extend out from the dining room and into the living room, for we had at least a dozen people over. Our meal was served buffet-style, with many foods prepared in actual food-warming trays my mother bought online. After the Thanksgiving meal and dessert, we played a round of "Taboo"; we were split into two teams, with one consisting of the Old relatives, and the other consisting of Young relatives. I participated on the Young team, and we won by just one point. After more socializing, most of the guests went home, and I had to be in bed by 8 PM so I could be prepared for my Black Friday shift the next day.

Friday started off with me getting up at 3:30 AM so I could eat breakfast, get dressed and leave at 4:15 to head off to the mall. Parking wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be, but there were people lining up by the doors in huddled masses. Once the mall doors opened at 5 AM, that's when the shopping craze started. After walking around the mall for half an hour, I then clocked in for my shift at 5:45 AM. Much of the time consisted of me ringing people up constantly, and it was crazy. The lines for customers to get rung up never ended, the phone lines to contact customer support were busy, and the signature capsules weren't reading the card chips correctly, not to mention that a few customers were rather picky about using coupons on Doorbuster deals (which were excluded). Things got a bit stressful, that I almost wanted to scream, but thankfully, I didn't. I couldn't even get my breaks in as scheduled; fortunately, I eventually got more help that I needed so badly. I wasn't able to sell any credit card accounts, but I did have three people sign up for a rewards program (which I could earn special money for). By 2:15 PM, I clocked out and went straight home to take a nap and pretty much rested up for the rest of the day.

Saturday consisted of more resting up and a marathon of "Harry Potter" movies with the foster care girls before I could head off to work for my closing shift (which wasn't as bad as Black Friday, but it was still tiring because I was the only one in my department to close for the night).

Today, I went to church and then came home to socialize with some relatives who wanted to stop by and say hello, plus there was more of the "Harry Potter" marathon going on. Once everyone went home by mid-afternoon, my mother and I ended the day by going to see "Coco" in theaters (which is really great, by the way).
This is certainly a Thanksgiving weekend I might not ever forget. :)