December 14, 2012

So tomorrow Earl and I are going to the mall to do our holiday shopping. We try to make the Christmas shopping a fun experience by going someplace that we are not overly familiar with. It gives us a new perspective on our surroundings and we’re less apt to get hostile with people we might know in the community if we go someplace out of state or something like that. However, since I am on-call this weekend, I’m not sure that we’ll be going very far, so there’s a slight chance that we might get hostile with someone in the next city. It’s the chance you take when you’re concentrating on the spirit of the season.

I have never been one to enjoy shopping. I don’t like the hustle. I don’t like the bustle. I like going places and looking at geeky things, and I certainly like buying something shiny, but I like to do it during a snowstorm, avalanche or earthquake or other event as the stores tend to be less crowded and people tend to be less focused on being mean to one another. Only the laid back folks tend to shop during outrageous events and quite frankly I find them to be the more pleasant to be around. Besides, when salespeople are all concerned about a blizzard or an approaching tornado funnel they tend to be less intrusive into my personal space and I feel more comfortable in the store.

My father rarely stepped foot into a grocery or department store. When we went Christmas shopping for the holidays we’d always start out at Central Tractor. We might make our way to Two Guys or JM Fields afterwards. I know that he stepped foot into our local Ames only twice, and once was before it was open (so he could drop off some construction materials they had bought from the family business) and the second time was when he picked out my three-speed Huffy bike that was destined to be my birthday present.

He did find solace in B. Daltons, now that I think about it. He did enjoy reading at the book store while we made our way around the shopping center turned mall which has since been turned back into a shopping center. Maybe I should just park myself at Barnes and Noble tomorrow and find a little bit of comfort in the middle of the chaos.

‘Tis a pity the weather forecast looks relatively calm.