"As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December's bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same."
~Donald E. Westlake
Christmas shopping... BLECH! For some strange reason, I don't enjoy Christmas/Holiday shopping as much as I used to! In my twenties, I could work a full 8 hour shift at work, and still close the malls shopping! In my thirties, I learned to be a bit more reasonable with my time. Just because I could close a mall, didn't mean I had to! That was an unanticipated side effect of marriage! LOL. Suddenly, budgets were a good thing, but what goes with a sound budget? Strictly planned shopping! Gone are the days of impulse buying, nope in my thirties I learned to be a coupon clipper, sales advertisement peeper, and a bargain shopper planner! Not very spontaneous, but definitely less nerve racking come January! Now, my forties came with the idea of purchasing gifts throughout the year, and putting them away in a special gift box for the holidays! That way everything got paid off a little at a time! Can you tell what I am leading up to?
My fifties! My shopping energy is now almost nonexistent, and so is my patience! Nothing makes me more irritable than rudeness! But it's especially bad when it's coming from someone 30 years younger than me! The other day, while standing in line at Walmart, a young woman of about 20 or so, who was standing in front of me, backed into my cart at least four times within a span of about 2 minutes! Each time she bumped into me, she would stop yelling at her boyfriend, who apparently lives in her cell phone, to turn around and apologize profusely! The first couple times I accepted her apology, but by the third time I was just pissed off! On the fourth, "I'm Sorry" I said, "No you're not!" You should have seen the look on her face! "No really ma'am, I am sorry."
I didn't have the energy to shop that day, but shop I had to! I didn't have the energy to stand in line at Walmart that day, but stand in line I had to. Walmart frowns on customers who take items from the store without doing the heavy lifting of actually standing in line! So I was pretty much at the mercy of whoever was standing along with me. When the young woman was so deep in her own life, that she couldn't just put a little thought into her actions, it just rubbed me the wrong way! Sigh. I let it go at that, because thankfully, the line began to move again, and she was going to be out of my life soon enough!
Whatever!
As of today, I am 90% finished with my Christmas shopping! I have one more trip to Walmart, to pick up a gift for the cats, and a small gift for Alan. Tonight he and I are going to pick out our annual Tilden Park Carousel ornaments. The Winter Wonderland at the Tilden Park Carousel is nothing short of magical, and when we are there it puts me in the holiday spirit like nothing else! We have bought each other an ornament every year for the last 7 years or so! They have about 14 Christmas trees, that have every kind of Christmas ornament theme you could come up with! Including a Hunter's Tree, Fairy Tales, Sea Creatures, and of course, some that are more traditional! It is gorgeous! One of my very favorite is the all Christmas candy tree! It consists of lovely plastic candies, and cupcakes. It's hard not to feel like a kid when looking at all the candy, and that makes this old lady feel really good!
Shopping isn't actually a sport, but it does take skills and patience!
ESPECIALLY PATIENCE!
Mood: Happy
~Me :)
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