Turkey has been said to make people sleepy, but perhaps thegorging on Thursday, kicking feet up to watch football and going tobed early is actually fueling the body in preparation for earlyFriday.

The sun had not even had its first cup of coffee today, butBrookhaven shoppers were already pounding the pavement at 5 a.m. oflocal retail stores in hopes of grabbing those big-ticket items atmore affordable prices during Black Friday sales.

“We ignored the craziness and looked for some good deals,” saidAnn Brumfield while looking for a special Christmas gift. ” Weprobably could have waited to shop any time, but there’s somethingabout this day that makes you want to get out and do it.”

Some could argue a certain chemical in turkey creates a shoppingimbalance in the brain, but some shoppers were out and about onspecial orders.

“It’s crazy, pretty crazy,” said local shopper ClintRounsaville. “Partly my doing, partly my wife’s doing.”

Rounsaville’s wife was not present to comment.

While taking full throttle of shopping carts, bargain huntersexpected to save a little money and to be groggy eyed doing it.They also expected a few disappointments, though.

“We got the TVs we wanted, but we missed out on the $3crockpots,” said Myra Mathis, who drove in from Georgia to spendThanksgiving in Brookhaven. “You have to be a savvy shopper to shopon Black Friday.”

Missing out on certain items is not the only disappointment fromyear to year.

Many shoppers become disgruntled at the way some stores handledthe distribution of products or how stores might vary fromadvertisement times, which can interfere with shoppers’ BlackFriday strategies.

“I’m going to write about it on Facebook and let everyone knowhow sorry that was,” said Kristi Anderson, who arrived at a localstore at 2 a.m., but was unable to net and haul away a TV she wasafter.

Most often, people think about the shoppers on Black Friday. Butperhaps the unsung heroes are the workers who manned their battlestations and kept order during the morning.

“You have to get up early to hang with us,” joked PamelaBarksdale, Fred’s store manager.

For some, Black Friday shopping is more than bumping earlymorning elbows to save some extra cash.

“We enjoy it,” said Lynn Smith, who has been tag-teaming theshopping aisles with her daughter for the past 15 years. “It’s likea mother-daughter tradition now.”

Rebecca Smith, Lynn Smith’s daughter, drove 58 miles fromFlowood and took off from work to shop with her mom, who claimsthey have the art of bargain shopping mastered.

“We got it down to a science,” said Rebecca Smith. “That’s whywe get what we want.”

After a long day of feasting, the morning seemed to arriveearlier than normal. When one shopper was asked how she wouldrespond if someone said people that shop on Black Friday were crazy- she had very little to say.

“Yeah, probably right,” said Brandi Hedgepeth with a laugh asshe loaded her catch into the back of her vehicle.