MASON CITY, Iowa - Thanksgiving dinner is now left overs, and it's time for Christmas shopping to begin. By 5:00 am Friday morning, store fronts were taken over by long lines of shoppers looking for the best deals of the season. Everything from AA batteries: 30 for three dollars, to "Guitar Hero" sales, and even folks buying ceramic tiling. For some of these die-hard deal hunters, the line-up started last night, and it's been a long hard fight.

"Well, they shut the lights off and it got a lot colder then, but, it's pretty cold," said Allen Donahue, first in line at Best Buy and waiting to get in since 7:30 pm. His friend Ben Walk added, "We ordered a pizza around 11 o'clock so that kept us pretty warm."

"I just haven't gone to bed," said Travis Gordon and Thomas Mason, in line since 9:30 pm. "This is our third year in a row doing this, so we've kinda gotten used to it now."

"39 and a half weeks pregnant," said Ashley Kruger as she and husband Aaron waited in line since 9:30 pm. "We need a camcorder, cause it could happen at any minute so we obviously need something to keep the memories. Camcorder, camera, something like that."

And after hours of waiting, the moment of truth finally came. Within minutes the aisles were packed and the buying was underway. For many they say this is just the first stop, and their long night of waiting is now a long day of shopping. But most say it was worth it, and it all happened, hours before the sun had even come up.