OTTUMWA — One way to bring a family closer together consists of mile-long lines, bitter cold and “doorbuster” savings.

That’s what happened Friday — the day after Thanksgiving — when several families and friends gathered together to hit most of the stores in Ottumwa for the biggest shopping day of the year.

Missy Grooms and her two daughters, Jenna and Sydney, got up extremely early to get their “doorbuster” sales.

Missy Grooms said this year it is important that they get the best deals with the economy the way it is, but that didn’t limit them much. Their goal was to get the things they had on their checklist of items.

“We plan out a route and what items we want and we stick to that,” Jenna Grooms said. “We have got what we came for so far.”

As they stood in line in the bitter cold, for over an hour and 15 minutes waiting for the doors to open at Target, they said it was worth every minute. Well, at least Jenna and Missy did.

“I don’t think I will come again next year,” Sydney said, laughing.

This was her first year on the day-after-Thanksgiving shopping extravaganza with her mother and sister. She looked like she was freezing and not quite awake, at 5:30 a.m. Friday.

Jenna Grooms said she has been going shopping with her mother for a couple years, but even before that her mother would go by herself at the same time to get the specials.

“It’s become sort of a tradition with us,” her mother said.

She said they were out to get electronics at Target and that they had already gotten some clothes and other things at the mall when it opened earlier Friday morning.

Allen Brokken was on holiday from Columbia, Mo., visiting his family in Ottumwa and thought he would do a little shopping early in the morning while he was here.

“Normally, both me and my wife go out shopping, but one of our kids is sick, so I’m the hunter today,” he said.

He withstood the cold and battled the huge line and crowds as buyers started to make their way inside the door, heading straight for where he was aimed. He was after one thing and one thing only.

“I’m coming to get an Xbox 360,” he said.