November should be known for TWO holidays. The official one - Thanksgiving. The Unofficial one - Black Friday. And the day after Black Friday is a pretty big day too. Usually I avoid all malls during this time. The pushing. The shoving. The crowds. I just can’t hang. A guy could get hurt, ya know?!?!

However, a certain three year old asked her Daddy if I could take her to the play area in the mall. I may ask tough questions and report before thousands of people, but there are times I don’t stand a chance with my daughter. It’s just so hard to say no sometimes. So, off we went.

I knew I’d be in for a long day the second I hit the parking lot. It was jammed. I waited, maneuvered and then, with a quickness that would have made Helio proud, EVENTUALLY zoomed into a space… SEVERAL yards away!!

Enter the mall. Wow!! I mean, the people were everywhere. Thankfully my daughter’s primary goal was to get to the play area. That was crowded too. My wife and I are going through the process of teaching our daughter to share. Imagine what that’s like in an area FULL of 2 to 7 year olds. “I was here first.” “No, I was.” “He’s pushing me.” “She’s pushing me.” Back and forth and on and on. 90 mintes of watching and refereeing, and I was the one who was exhauseted.

Were we done? Of course not. We worked our way through the mall to get a cookie and shop (just a little ’cause a little is all the energy I had left). Some of the lines were ridiculous. By the time we left, I had never been so happy to see the outside of a mall in many, many years.

I think next year I’ll do my Christmas shopping a littler earlier, like January. I can take Kennedy to another place to play and stay away from the malls, for the most part, during the holiday season.

Oh, who am I kidding. I’ll be back.