Black Friday in the City of Gold?

 If you know much about the Rozmaryn family, you know they love Thanksgiving. My sister refers to their yearly pilgrimage to the Poconos as a "cult gathering", and I think they would too. It's a lot a lot of people, a lot, a lot of food, and always the same activities from year to year- the same shooting range, chocolate shop, wal mart trips, and some hard core outlet shopping on black Friday.

Since I've been a part of this cult, we've experimented with several means of tackling the outlets to maximize sales. One year we tried to go at Midnight, as the stores opened, but we couldn't even get into the parking lot it was so full! That's not normal! The most tried and true method has been to leave around 4-5 am. That way, the parking lot is emptied of the most hard core shoppers who go there at midnight, the prices are still as heavily discounted as Midnight, and we return back to the houses in time for breakfast.

I have to admit that last year I did not participate in this ritual, Eitan was just 6 weeks old and I was too tired, not back to my size and scared to take him and brave the cold and crowds and I regretted it. Just to be clear- we did go on Saturday night, just right after Shabbat, which was the first time I ever left Eitan. I really love outlets.

So while our Rozmaryn side of the family is currently gathered together, I am missing shopping a lot. Given our financial circumstances at this time, my working half time, and Ami not working at all, shopping probably isn't going to be something that's going to happen for me anyways, but I couldn't help myself by doing some window shopping in the new (ish) Mamilla mall yesterday. First of all, it's beautiful. Like beautiful. It's outdoor with a long corridor of shops, all built in Jerusalem stone, with a view out into the walls of the Old City. And it felt like being home with all of the American shops (and all of the English being spoken) including, Crocs, Nine West, Columbia, North Face, Gap (Gap!) and MAC cosmetics.

So after the warm feeling of being at home seeing a big G-A-P, weird things started happening. The first odd thing that I noticed, was the Gap had no sale rack. What? That's just weird, right? I mean, obviously everything was ridiculously expensive, it's Gap in Israel after all, but after my amazing finds at Gap sale racks in the past (sweatshirts for Ami at $1.99, cardigans for me at $4.99, full outfits for Eitan for $2.50) it was weird to be at a Gap with nothing really cheap at all.

As I continued down the corridor, things got really crazy. In front of Topshop, a British store, I see a sign for Black Friday sales. What? A British store, in Jerusalem is having a Black Friday sale? Like a) marking the day after Thanksgiving, which neither locale celebrates and b) marking the beginning of Christmas shopping season? So that was the nail in the coffin. Mamilla mall, while technically is in Jerusalem, is really in America. Except everything is abnormally expensive (a pair of kitten heeled patent leather shoes at Nine West for 600 Shekels. Really? Really Nine West?).

So, for all of you, my friends, my family, braving the crowds tomorrow morning, I'll be thinking of you as you elbow your way to the deal of the century, and maybe might even walk to Mamilla to see what their version is really all about. But will be leaving my wallet at home. And especially, for my beloved family currently sleeping soundly in the Pocono Mountains, you know what happens if you go shopping without me without bringing me something back. I don't care if I'm sleeping in the room next store, or in a foreign country, be warned...

Happy Shopping!