Shopping in December!

We've taken a bit of a break from working on the house this week. Well, sort of. That just means that we did other things, as well as work on the house. We're doing the nitty-gritty of unpacking still, those last few boxes that we just don't know where we want to put the contents. Not that space is an issue here. NO WAY; we've got tons of space, I just really don't want to throw stuff in a corner or closet just to be done with it. I want it to have a specific spot that makes sense.

Anyway, we did our Christmas shopping this week. Those of you who know me well are looking at your calendars and saying "What? It's waaay past October! What are you doing shopping now?!" and you'd be right. I am normally LONG done my shopping. But, with the move and not wanting even more crap to haul out here- not to mention I'm sure my kids would have seen their gifts at some point during the move, and my wrapping paper was just unpacked now, I opted to join the rest of you nut-cases that want to crowd the malls in December.

Dustin, is one of you nut-cases. He loves nothing more than being amongst the throngs of people in Walmart at this time of year. He claims it puts him in the Christmas Spirit. The fact that we desperately needed a cart and there was a line-up for them at the entrance (and the cart guys were bringing them in one at a time!) didn't even phase him - he simply went out to the parking lot and brought back three. He joked that he was going to charge for them, but happily gave the extras to others waiting. There's something he likes about chaos in the mall, and getting up close and personal with strangers in the aisle.
He's a much better person than I am.
I. Cant. Stand. It. It makes me angry and want to pop pills.
"Where's your Christmas Spirit?" Dustin asks me.
It got trampled on, just like my foot, when we were in the Hot Wheels aisle!
AND, I'm convinced Walmart makes their toy aisles narrower for just this month, just to add to my aggravation! Somewhere, there's someone watching a monitor laughing at me on the security camera while I stand behind twenty other people and file down a toy aisle an inch per minute, holding my breath because I really don't want to smell what everyone had for supper on their coats.
Seriously, I don't know how anyone can survive this sanely, let alone enjoy it!

There was one thing that totally made me smile that day though; an employee of Walmart...male, late teens... you know who you are. Your complete lack of motivation in helping us, and then taking over 5 minutes to unwrap a roll of loonies, and then another 5 minutes for a roll of toonies (while we were standing there watching and waiting for our change) absolutely made my day. Actually, I'm not sure what was more funny; watching this guy pick at the rolls, or the side-glances I was getting from Dustin while his hand twitched at his side. I could only imagine the restraint it took for Dustin not to grab the roll of coins and crack it open himself!
You think I'm being sarcastic here - but I'm not. And it's not like the employee was rude, he just really, really, really couldn't have cared less! I seriously laughed SO hard after we walked away from this guy! I don't know if no one has ever bothered showing him how to crack a roll of coins over the till tray, but from watching him, I learnt something; Picking at the ends of a roll takes a lot longer. Which I guess is good for someone being paid by the hour, right?

Absolutely hilarious!

The kids made lists for us this year, which was genius. Or maybe the fact that we remembered to bring them with this year was the genius part, I don't know. Either way, it made shopping for them super simple (minus the other shoppers of course).
We got all our gifts in one afternoon, with only a couple stops, and I'm feeling pretty good about our selections. I think it'll be a fun Christmas.
I'm glad I'm done now, and not in two weeks from now. I can only imagine how much worse the malls will get! And I will definitely be done by November again next year!

Okay, so that's my ranting... I don't think I rant a lot on here - but this was something I just had to make myself heard on. ... I don't like Christmas shopping in December!