Holiday Shopping

Wordcount 11/24 thru 12/5: 2188

I've been writing every day, I really have, just not very much. Not as much as I wanted. Aside from work stuff going on, the holiday's are creeping up on me. I'm not ready. I'm never ready. I always feel overwhelmed with the shopping and the card sending and the decorating. Last year I didn't decorate or send cards. My mother had passed away the summer before and I was missing her, and the last thing I wanted to think about was Christmas. My M.O. is to just blank out whatever's bothering me. I can't help it, that's just how I am.

I still miss Mom, but I'm making an effort this year to be better at embracing Christmas. I'll decorate the house, but no tree. A tree would be too much and my youngest cat is a climber so I don't want to give her the opportunity to trash my ornaments. So I'll just hang a few on the houseplants. Lord knows we have enough of those in the house. Who needs a Christmas tree? And cards, yes, I bought some really pretty ones at Costco last week. Sitting down and actually addressing them is another matter, but I'll do it this weekend. Seriously.

I went shopping today. I was actually looking forward to it and had kind of a list started. Most of the people I'll shop for are out-of-state, so this task needs to be accomplished quickly. I don't relish standing in line at the post office and paying more for postage than the value of the gift, but that's the way it goes. I accept that. What I don't accept is how tough it is to shop when there are too many choices!

I walked into Bed, Bath and Beyond because I needed a new shower squeegee and I figured I'd find something cool in there for my sister as well. When I walked through the doors, the sights, sounds and smells about knocked me off my feet. Too much! It was even worse at World Market. I went to Sees Candy to get my sister her favorite Molasses Chips, and even that store was loaded with more choices than I could handle. Lucky for me I went in there for just one thing.

I got home and thought, okay, let's shop online. That should be easier, right? Search for something, have a couple of items pop up on the screen, pick one, there you go. Easy. Ha! It was even harder than the brick and mortar stores! I was looking for those whacky Transformer action figures for both my grandsons and about fifty of the crazy things popped up. I can't win. I'm going to have to either eenie-meanie-minie-mo this stuff, or have someone do it for me. Sight.