Tis The Season, Anyone Else Still Shopping?

[Gram18]

Oh the crowds are gettin to me. If ya go in the morning, say around 9:00 it isn`t so bad, but man after 11:30 "they get real pushy"!! Still have so much to do yet. How about everybody else, are you done or still looking for that perfect gift?

[PlantSwap]

After vowing not to shop on Black Friday, I broke down reading the ads in the Thursday paper and left the house at 5am. I was at Best Buy at 5:15am and had to wait in a line to get in the store (of course). The line moved fast and I got in in about 10 minutes. Of course, there were so many people in the store, you couldn't hardly see any merchandise. The two items I was interested were already sold out, so I left.

On to Circuit City. I get there at 5:45am. I have to park across the street in the Olive Garden parking lot, but get in the store without waiting in a line. Once inside, there are lines in every department. I get in a seemingly not too long line in the game system department hoping to get a Gameboy Advance for my nephew (special price). This line moves at glacial speed. Eventually one of the girls who works there comes back through the line asking who is waiting for Gameboys and handing out tickets and counting down the available inventory. I manage to get the very last ticket (ie. the last Gameboy they have in stock). Great I thought. The lady behind me wanted a Gameboy too and decides to wait in line in case they miscounted or someone leaves the line which is entirely possible because we have moved approximately 10 feet in the last 40 minutes. At 8am, I'm still waiting in this line and no where near the register. It looks like at least another hour wait based upon how slow the line has been moving so far. I call my brother and ask him if nephew would really like a Gameboy and learn that he already has one and never plays with it. Groan. I hand the ticket to the lady behind me, wish her a Merry Christmas and leave the store.

3 hours of shopping and I bought exactly zero items. LOL.

[txbeyer]

We helped the cause on Black Friday and bought a 50" Plasma HD TV and matching stand. Now I can watch all my favorite gardening shows in style. That was our Christmas gift to each other this year so Christmas came early.

[Gram18]

OMG that is a bummer admin. All that time. I would be seeing RED!! Luckily I`ve been able to find the things I`ve gone for, but the crowds still get to me. You think it`s my age!!!???? NAHHHH!!

[Gram18]

Oh and Txbeyer, nice early gift. My dh and I did that 2 years ago. We bought a 38 or 40 inch so this old gal could see the Nascar positions at the top of the screen while they were racing. Plus it`s nice for football scores too. As you can tell my eyes aren`t what they used to be.

[PlantSwap]

Yeah, I wasn't too happy about that morning, but things got better later in the day. I did manage to get the some of the other things on my list (one of which was, again, the last unit in the store).

[Gram18]

Well I can honestly say I am progressing along nicely, so far! Still have about half of it to do. Not like my dh he`s a "last minute shopper"!!!

[PlantSwap]

My wife comes from a large family (6 sisters and 2 brothers). One of her brothers also has a birthday the day after Christmas. Last minute shopping doesn't work for us!

[Gram18]

One of my sweet daughters is gonna have a on the 9th of Dec. so there`s that gift to buy also!

[txbeyer]

Yes, it is always interesting when a loved one's birthday falls close to Christmas. My wife has a birthday on Dec 11th, so I go birthday and Christmas shopping simultaneously each year. Actually, she was born 4 days after the Pearl Harbor attack, and I was actually born on Easter Sunday 2 years later. Checking a pepetual calendar, I would have to live to 120 before my birthday falls on Easter Sunday again since it occured on the last day Easter can possibly fall on. At least it's not close to Christmas although there is astronomical scientific evidence that Christmas actually occurred April 17th 6 BC (compared to our present calendar).

[PlantSwap]

... although there is astronomical scientific evidence that Christmas actually occurred April 17th 6 BC (compared to our present calendar).

So much for me being born on the 14th day of Christmas.

[Gram18]

And then there`s me, my birthday is Jan. 4th. You know when I was little and at home, I always got, "oh your birthday is so close to Xmas, we`ll just include a birthday present for you with your Xmas ones". But the thing is, I`d want to know which Xmas gift was my birthday gift, and Mom and Dad always had different answers!! You see I got smart and started to ask them seperately. NEVER got the same birthday gift from them!!

[txbeyer]

Saw something really unusual at Home Depot today - a living succulent Wreath - make with all the same kind of succulent plants tightly compacted in a wreath form. Guess our southernmost gardeners can appreciate such a novelty. What will they think of next?

[PlantSwap]

Hey Gram, mine is the 7th!

Bob, that sounds messy. I guess it doesn't need watering for a month or so?

[Gram18]

In our area, Lowes came up with a bit of different decoration idea. They put "very small" pine trees together, like 5 around the bottom then 4 then 3, 2 then 1 as the top of the tree. Very becoming, but not so becoming for the price!! $48.00!!!!! Too rich for my blood!!