Christmas Traditions—Last Minute Shopping

No, don't get the wrong idea: MY required Christmas shopping is already done this year. But I'll confess that there have been occasions in the past where I have been one of those glassy-eyed mall zombies on Christmas Eve.

Not often, though. I generally try to avoid crowds, and I'll go out of my way to avoid long lines -- so Christmas Eve shopping provides a double-whammy to my introverted activity system. Not to mention the stress provided by the noisy shoppers, empty shelves, and the self-esteem damage of not having been able to figure the whole thing out before then.

But sometimes, even after the nominally required shopping is complete, I might think of one more little item that would be a nice stocking stuffer or a pleasant add-on to the gifts already under the tree. After all, the pleasure in shopping is about making your loved ones happy, and if an opportunity pops up to do a better job of that, well, you have to go with it.

After Sunday's rather brutal swim practice, Tanner and I went out to lunch. As always seems to happen when I'm with him, the conversation wandered all over the place, from quantum mechanics to Donny & Marie, and beyond. During the course of that free-wheeling conversation, he mentioned something that gave me an idea for some potential supplementary shopping.

We needed to go to the mall anyway, since I had to get my glasses repaired after losing a frame screw during my run on Saturday. That part of the trip was pretty easy -- the dude at Lenscrafters replaced the screw and cleaned the lenses for no charge. (Couldn't get the scratches out, but that's a topic for another day. So is the subject of how an extremely polite and helpful serviceperson can still totally creep you out, just because he has a haircut that looks like it belongs on a CSI psycho-villain. One of these days we'll have to explore the topic of whether having a haircut like that turns you into a psycho-villain, or if psycho-villains just naturally gravitate toward unattractive fashion choices. I'll probably need some help with that topic, though, since I'm so totally into looking good, myself.)

After my glasses were fixed, we spent a little time just wandering the mall, watching the shoppers. It seemed to be pretty easy to tell the "OMG--Time is running out!" panic shoppers from the folks who just enjoy cruising the mall on the weekend. Something about the eyes, and the jerkiness of movements. It's quite entertaining, really.

And then there are the guys who play with the toys that look really cool while they're performing their tricks in the mall, but would stop being fun within about 2 minutes of getting them home. This year's model is a little fan-powered "flying saucer" with lights on it. The demo guy acts like he's freakin' David Copperfield or something, waving his hands above and beneath it to show that there are no wires holding it up. Well, duh -- it's got a giant propeller under there; of course it's going to "levitate". What he doesn't show you is the fact that he has to replace the batteries every 4 and a half minutes, and that if you took it home it would make a Murphy's Law beeline for the shelf that holds all your fragile Ming vases and stuff.

As much as I enjoyed our stroll through the teeming masses of frazzled VISA-wielders, though, there really wasn't an opportunity to fulfill my own shopping needs, seeing as the intended gift recipient was strolling right beside me. No problem; I'd just go to Wal-Mart after I dropped him off at home. That was my plan, and that's what I did.

Unfortunately, Wal-Mart didn't have the item I sought...but it did have enough of a crowd to activate my "gotta get to someplace quiet before I wanna smack somebody" button, so when I bailed out of there -- I had no more shopping mojo in me. I went home and spent the rest of the day enjoying my solitude, enhanced as it was by the single strand of colored LEDs adorning the sliding glass door. It had been an excellent day, though, and had cascaded into an excellent evening.

Guess I'll have to go finish my shopping at even more of the last minute. Or maybe I'll just skip it for this season, and buy the darn thing for his birthday next year. We'll see. In any case, if you're going to go out into the throngs during the last few days before Santa's arrival, please be patient and kind to your fellow shoppers...and have a great day!