I was listening to the radio on the way to work.  There was a commercial talking about black Friday. Evidently, if you don’t start camping out, outside of Best Buy right now, you are a loser & won’t have anything for your loved ones, for Christmas.  Or at least that’s what the announcer implied.

Deals! Deals! Deals! Oh the joys of saving money-for the holiday, of course…..

I will say this, the retail stores have done a great job of trying to get what little left over money the country has.  I mean, the Christmas decorations are out earlier every year.  At Halloween, we went over to our town’s trunk or treat for Miss Neenee to get some candy.  We were driving along & the Miss said, “Look Mama, snowflakes.”  Then, she proceeded to point to the light poles, that already had the Christmas decorations on them.  Go. Figure. Let me tell you this, I have 5 kids & a grand child to buy for.  I do not Christmas shop all year round.  I do not go to black Friday.  I wait until December to start shopping for Christmas.  And you know what?  Every year, they get Christmas presents.  I am not usually too stressed or coming apart.  My problem is, with such a large family, spending too much money.  Aha! You may say, perhaps I need to visit black Friday!  No, I would rather go thru all the money I have, than put myself through that.  Everybody has their rathers.  I would rather make a couple of mad dashes here & there & get it done.

Mind you, there was a time I loved Christmas shopping.  When my Mama was living we loved to shop together.  She loved shopping at any time of the year.  Christmas was just an extra special treat!  Even when she was in a wheelchair, she would have my Daddy take her to the Walmart Supercenter at midnight. Not just at Christmas, but other times, through out the year.  Her thought was that it was less crowded.  So, if she wanted to take time looking at things, she did not have to worry about being in people’s way.  Her Mama loved to Christmas shop, too.  I remember going to the store with her.  She would let me pick out what I wanted.  It was a toy, sometimes, or make-up, as I got older.  I got to help her pick out presents for my cousins, too.  We would do a lot of window shopping, as she called it.  You know, looking & admiring, not so much buying all we saw.  In times past, I would go with my sister-in-law & brother shopping on Friday after Thanksgiving. We usually went to Memphis shopping.  We would go to the Mall of Memphis & to Goldsmith’s on Poplar.  It was always a fun time making my brother carry our bags.  Perhaps one day I can Christmas shop like my Daddy.  He did all his Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve, every year, for every one, at Radio Shack.  My Mama was not too much on electronics.  So, he would have to pick her gift up somewhere else.  But boy did me & my brother always get some cool stuff! One year we got a remote control airplane.  Another time my brother got a hand held electronic baseball game & I got a tape recorder. Good times.

Whether you decide to go to black Friday & line up with all the folks to buy your goods, or if you decide to lay back & wait to start your shopping later on- I won’t judge you.  I will just be snoozing blissfully, on my day off, while some unshowered, lady(who has been up all night) snatches an Easy Bake Ultimate Oven or Furby away from a well meaning shopper down at the local Walmart.  There will be chaos, nasty jeers, yelling, & tramplings in some stores,  all in the name of Christmas presents.  Who wouldn’t want to miss that?

Thank you for stopping by to visit with me today.  I would love to hear about some of your Christmas shopping experiences.  However, I have to be going now, because I should be washing clothes……