Shopping can be so much fun!

I love to go shopping.  Especially when there isn't anything in particular that I am looking for - I can just look at stuff and decide if I like it well enough to buy it or if I think someone I know would love to have it as much as I want to buy it for them.  That's when shopping is really fun.

I'm not crazy about shopping with a detailed list, though.  "Mission shopping" is torture.  How much was it at that store?  I'm always second-guessing myself when I'm on a budget.  Fortunately, I don't really have a budget like I used to.  Now, if I see it and it's reasonably affordable, I just buy it and be done with it.  If it's for me, I bring it home to try on or unwrap it and put it in it's place or move it around and rearrange stuff to make it just so.  If it's a gift, such as for Christmas, I just stack all the stuff up on the bed in the guest room with post-its as to who the gifts are for and continue on my merry buying spree.  The bag and the receipt are under the gift just in case I find something I would rather give to that person.

It's especially fun to shop for my sister and my mom because I know them just about better than anyone else in my life.  I feel victorious when I find Judy's size or something I know Mom is going to love.  They are both desperate for good looking clothes, and I really try hard to find them things they can wear every day - as well as the fun items - cute jammies or jewelry that will put a smile on their face. 

I remember one year, maybe on Dec. 23, Judy was upset because she lost one of her favorite ladybug pins that she wears on the lapel of her uniform everyday.  I said "Wait.  Hold on.  Just a minute!"  Then I went under the tree and found this little package and I had a new one for her to open on Christmas morning, but she needed it right then.  The LOOK on her face when she opened that ladybug pin that I found sometime in July was more special at that moment than it would have been on Christmas morning.  It might have been lost in the shuffle of gifts on Dec. 25, but on that day, she needed a lift and I had it to give.  She almost forgot about the lost ladybug pin, but I found the lost one after she left for work and wrapped it up in the box from Dec. 23 - so on Christmas, it was in her stocking.  These are the random, priceless gifts that I truly love to give.

Shopping for my Dad is another story.  Sometimes he asks for a specific thing - like last year.  He wanted these two Howland family tiles framed in a shadow box, and he told me this at Thanksgiving time.  Getting things framed is a challenge when places like Ben Franklin have a sign up that say "next available delivery for custom frames:  December 24 at 7:30 pm."  That was a killer gift item.  Fortunately, I got it before that date and time, but I really was sweating that gift.  That wasn't shopping.  That was a mission item and as much as I loved the look on his face when he opened it, I sweated the arrival of an acceptable framing job before I left for NN.

Today was fun.  I had to run to Walmart for some club picture day stuff and other groceries, but I had an extra hour or so on my hands, so I meandered through Walmart willy-nilly and looked at Christmas decorations and prepackaged gift isles with abandon - and giggled.  I picked up a few things today that will make some little people happy - well, if it's not lost in the shuffle or the "stuck-uppityness" of their parents.  Buying things for my nieces and nephews (and great nieces and nephews) lost its luster a long time ago because none of them appreciated squat and I never ONCE got a thank you - much less a note from Indiana, Georgia or Utah. Tim and Tres have ALWAYS been appreciative, but the alphabet side of my family, not so much.

Now that I think about it, I might just have to give those cute gifts to Christmas Mother or Angel Tree so someone who can appreciate them will have them on Christmas morning. 

I wish I could talk my parents into going to Disney World for Christmas this year.  No gifts, just one great family blowout trip and shoot a wad of cash in Florida.  No cooking, cleaning, decorating.  Just meandering through a beautifully decorated happy place and watch Judy's face light up when she sees Mickey and Minnie, Goofy and Daffy, and Cinderella.  It doesn't matter that Judy is 62 years old - she still loves everything Disney and is such a happy human being - no matter what is happening in her world (unless the clocks aren't right).

Yes, shopping can be so much fun.  I love buying gifts for people who appreciate them - and it has nothing to do with the price.  It's the element of surprise, the thought that counted, the pleasure in the buying and the perfect wrapping of a beautiful package - whether it is under the tree or on the Christmas dinner table.

I wish more people in my family appreciated that concept - but they don't.  At least I know that my Mom, Dad and my Judy do, and that really is all that matters.