The turkey was finished, leftovers put away, kitchen cleaned, floor mopped, and garbage was at the curb. It was a long, fun, day spent with family and good friends.

During our clean up, my daughter asked if I would consider doing some midnight shopping with her at our local outlet. My son was going with his friends and the idea tickled her too.

So off we went for a midnight shopping spree at Tanger. It was cold and crowded – and oh so much fun. The deals were great and the company even better. There was just a fun buzz in the air as we went from store to store. Some had lines out their doors waiting to get in. That was too much for me.

Admittedly, I really don’t like the idea of making employees work on Thanksgiving. But that said, all the employees we met during the course of the evening were friendly, welcoming and seemed genuinely taken with the excitement around them.

With full candor, I was pretty tired and could have easily went straight to hug my pillow rather than driving out to go shopping. But instead we made memories.