Christmas Time: Shopping
Good morning, friends! I am unusually covered in cats today. I know that doesn’t sound unusual, but recently Pearl has taken to spending the whole day curled up by the heating vent in our room and I’ve been left to snuggle Calamity in the morning for a little while before she decides to join her sister for the afternoon. I’ve missed having both of my kitten friends to snuggle with, so I’m am quite pleased with this mornings turnout, though it is a little awkward, reaching over Calamity to type. Ah well.
I went shopping yesterday, all by myself. I don’t usually go shopping by myself, but it seems that at least once during the Christmas season I end up out and about on my own. I happened to have Kohl’s cash which expired yesterday, so I wanted to actually use it for once, since it was more than the usual $15 I generally get from Black Friday shopping. I looked online, but with $8 shipping for something I could go to the store and get, I decided it was worth venturing out, with the added incentive of looking for more Christmas presents.
I’m a very physical shopper. I like to have a thing in front of me to touch and feel and smell before I buy it. My husband is perfectly happy to do all of his shopping online, which I’m fine with when we know what we’re getting. But when it comes to trying to find something with no clue where to start, I tend to want to wander a store and see what’s out there. It’s a little less overwhelming than the vastness of the internet. That being said, we tend to get half our gifts on Amazon and half from brick and mortar stores.
I was actually pretty successful yesterday, more so than I was expecting. I didn’t get to cross anyone completely off our list, but I got some good ideas and I picked up a few pieces for a few different people, which is progress, at least. The thing about shopping alone, though, is you don’t have anyone to affirm that you are making good decisions, or at least encourage your bad ones. I had a huge debate with myself over spending my Kohl’s cash on something practical or frivolous for myself. I eventually had to text my Twirls to help me out. I also had no one to ask if this person would like this thing, or that thing, and that made the whole trip less productive than it could have been.
While I quite enjoy going out and shopping, especially when I have some one to shop with, I must admit, Amazon makes things very convenient. I’m currently looking for gifts on Amazon right now between paragraphs. I’ve got like five tabs open with different things to compare as I try to decide which I like best. When I know what I want, Amazon is great. It’s when I have no starting point that it becomes a problem. I’m totally lost on what to get my dad and Amazon is no help at all. The extent of it’s content makes it so I can’t browse easily for inspiration. Every category I can think of has like fifteen sub-categories which are all huge and only slightly less vague than the greater one. It’s really hard to find inspiration when you’re lost in a sea of obscure cooking tools and hardware.
So our list is slowly dwindling. We usually start out better than this, we really do. We’ve been so good in years past about brain-storming ideas and figuring out what we’re getting people well in advance of Thanksgiving so we can enjoy the season without worrying too much about presents. This year, however, we were surprised with an extra baby and several doctor switches and loads of work stuff going on, so the brain-storming did not happen. We’re getting there, though, and I’m confident we’ll be able to find stuff for everyone before Christmas Eve. I super don’t want to be in the mall the day before, frantically searching for something, anything, for this person or that one again. The first year I celebrated with my in-laws, I may have gotten my father-in-law one of those sausage and cheese gift boxes out of desperation. We’ll definitely do better this year. I hope all of your shopping is going well. Have a lovely day, my friends!
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