Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, the calendar has clicked around again and it's almost Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving can only mean one thing. Nope it doesn't mean the two (now three) football games. It doesn't even mean all the food (although let's be honest, that is good) it can only mean... Black Friday is coming. Now, if you are wondering what the heck black friday is, it was "the worst day ever" when I was working at Best Buy. You see, there are so many people shopping on Black Friday, that they even made us poor souls from the service centers (who are usually shielded from actually dealing with the public in person) go into the stores to try and help. People from the Best Buy corporate offices in Minneapolis even had to head out to the stores to help with the rush. Yes, black Friday is the busiest day of the shopping season, the day that the stores can go from their year being "in the red" to being "in the black" financially speaking.

For the past several years (some in the cold of Minnesota, and last year in the chill of Alabama) we have stood (or sat) in line to get the great deals that are available the day after Thanksgiving. Last year we picked up the monitor I am looking at right now as I write this for under $100! We picked up a couple of cheap hard drives, and we honestly have more DVD+R's than we will ever use in our lifetime, because the past couple of years they were selling them 100 at a time, free after rebate.

This year, we were hoping to find a great deal on a flat panel TV. The TV that we had in our bedroom finally died after 9 years of service. The picture tube only showed a single line across the middle of the screen. And then of course there was this awful burning smell. Anyway, it is no longer with us. So we need a replacement.

Unfortunately, there aren't any deals that are in the price range that we were looking for. We are still holding out for Wal*Mart (yes Wal*Mart!) because they are the last of the big box chains that haven't announced all of their on sale items for the Friday sale. We shall see. It will be strange if we actually sleep in on the day after Thanksgiving.

That description of the day after Thanksgiving was a bit longer than I had intended. What I really wanted to do was to let you know some of the things that I am thankful for this summer. We had a very busy retreat season, and we had a great opportunity to meet and help lots of people with their retreats. This summer was the best yet. We had an amazing staff, who really stepped up to lead our on-site and day camp programs. If I could hire every one of them back for next summer I would. They were that good. I also want to thank those who supported Camp Dixie. Those of you who helped out at chicken dinners, ate at the chicken dinners, or donated money to Camp Dixie. Your foresightedness is what makes the ministry at Camp Dixie possible.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I hope you have a great day!
See you at camp!
Mac