Deck the halls.....or maybe an old lady!
I decided to get an early start on my Christmas shopping, so I began today. You laugh, I usually start in earnest on the 23rd. Frankly it has gotten easier as members of my family get older and less interested in the gift than the thought involved. Gotten much easier with a Bride who is very interested in shopping and doesn't mind picking up things, especially for my nieces. I've never really developed a knack for shopping for 6 and 8 y.o. girls. She also suggests things that I can get for other family members.
Modern technology has made it much easier too. Gift cards are not too emotional but they are very handy and a card bought here at a major retailer is good at any city in the land and the recepient can chose what he likes. My parents love a Luby's card, my nephew prefers Best Buy. My Mom likes Barnes and Nobles and the bride likes Talbot's [note: for prying eyes, not this year].
The Internet has matured into a great way to shop also. I first tried to order online in 1998 and I'll have to say it was a disappointing experience. Busy webservers, poor personal contact if need be and the agony of going through the shopping basket only to have an "out of stock" appear at the end of the ordeal. Today the poorly run sites have gone out of business or been purchased by the people who know what they're doing. I surf up my gift choice and then choose to use the 800 number to make the order. My preference the last several years has been the Stockyards. A great high end meat purveyor in Chicago that has not disappointed.
But today there were a few items I needed that caused me to visit some real life stores. My Mom, who says she wants nothing, actually needs a new Boom Box. Her current model has a defective CD player. So to Best Buy I went. I picked up the gift cards for the nephew, the Boom Box and something for Jack. Though crowded the shopping and checkout was actually not too bad. But on the drive out of the parking lot it happened. One of the reasons I prefer to shop online if possible.
To my way of thinking there are two classes of drivers at Christmas time. Those who consider the season and are extra polite and their opposite, those who consider the season a time to act out their worst behavior. I ran into one of those this morning.
Driving down the main internal road of the shopping center where Best Buy is located a 60'ish woman in an Expedition [i.e. land monster] was exiting one of the side parking areas and decided that she didn't need to stop for the flow of traffic. Turning at a goodly speed into the line of cars she had the nerve to honk at me and gesticulate wildly, I could see her mouthing something. Merry Christmas, I'm sure.
I wanted to stop and ask her what the cop who gave me a speeding ticket some weeks ago said, snidely I might add. "Lady is there some kind of medical emergency that's causing you to drive this way". Or is it just the Christmas spirit. I don't and won't ever understand some people.
I decided to get an early start on my Christmas shopping, so I began today. You laugh, I usually start in earnest on the 23rd. Frankly it has gotten easier as members of my family get older and less interested in the gift than the thought involved. Gotten much easier with a Bride who is very interested in shopping and doesn't mind picking up things, especially for my nieces. I've never really developed a knack for shopping for 6 and 8 y.o. girls. She also suggests things that I can get for other family members.
Modern technology has made it much easier too. Gift cards are not too emotional but they are very handy and a card bought here at a major retailer is good at any city in the land and the recepient can chose what he likes. My parents love a Luby's card, my nephew prefers Best Buy. My Mom likes Barnes and Nobles and the bride likes Talbot's [note: for prying eyes, not this year].
The Internet has matured into a great way to shop also. I first tried to order online in 1998 and I'll have to say it was a disappointing experience. Busy webservers, poor personal contact if need be and the agony of going through the shopping basket only to have an "out of stock" appear at the end of the ordeal. Today the poorly run sites have gone out of business or been purchased by the people who know what they're doing. I surf up my gift choice and then choose to use the 800 number to make the order. My preference the last several years has been the Stockyards. A great high end meat purveyor in Chicago that has not disappointed.
But today there were a few items I needed that caused me to visit some real life stores. My Mom, who says she wants nothing, actually needs a new Boom Box. Her current model has a defective CD player. So to Best Buy I went. I picked up the gift cards for the nephew, the Boom Box and something for Jack. Though crowded the shopping and checkout was actually not too bad. But on the drive out of the parking lot it happened. One of the reasons I prefer to shop online if possible.
To my way of thinking there are two classes of drivers at Christmas time. Those who consider the season and are extra polite and their opposite, those who consider the season a time to act out their worst behavior. I ran into one of those this morning.
Driving down the main internal road of the shopping center where Best Buy is located a 60'ish woman in an Expedition [i.e. land monster] was exiting one of the side parking areas and decided that she didn't need to stop for the flow of traffic. Turning at a goodly speed into the line of cars she had the nerve to honk at me and gesticulate wildly, I could see her mouthing something. Merry Christmas, I'm sure.
I wanted to stop and ask her what the cop who gave me a speeding ticket some weeks ago said, snidely I might add. "Lady is there some kind of medical emergency that's causing you to drive this way". Or is it just the Christmas spirit. I don't and won't ever understand some people.
