I have to admit that I kind of like the thrill of waiting to do some shopping till the week of Christmas, coming into the house with bags of wonderfully good deals and finds and then the fun of a wrapping party when I wrap all the presents at once. AH! Such fun.
This year I've been a good girl and spread the shopping out a bit so that it didn't ALL hit my bank account at once. Tonight I went out in the attempt to finish the last round (didn't quite work, unfortunately) and let me tell you, the stories that shopping three days before Christmas provides is almost worth the hassle of dealing with the crowds.

Ex. 1 -
I was shopping in Owasso and knew that Jaime needed a big book store. Since I had made a Mary Kay delivery earlier in the evening, I just happened to have a GPS with me and decided to look up the closest Borders so we could try and get a phone number and get their hours. Much to my surprise I found one listed for Owasso so Jaime called and found out they were open till midnight (this was around 9 o'clock and I had been afraid that's when they would close, so that's why we were calling). We turned around and headed in the direction the GPS directed. When I turned onto a residential street and started winding my way through a neighborhood I started getting worried, but I figured the number was right so surely the address is as well. We continued to wind through the neighborhood and came to a stop in front of a house. So apparently there is a hidden Borders in Owasso......maybe in someone's basement? Oh well, it made Jaime and I laugh. We made our way back out of the neighborhood and headed towards a more familiar surrounding.....Tulsa :)

Ex. 2 -
Standing in line at WalMart I over hear the lady in front of me talking on her cell phone. The one line she keeps repeating over and over for all to hear was "I'll marry you, I just won't have any children with you"......kind of an odd sentence to be announcing to the whole world but whatever.
Once she was off the phone she starts surveying my items and notices the fun items I was purchasing and commented to her friend she "wants to go home with them". She then paused her listing of items I was purchasing, but continued with "and LOTS of hand sanitizer!"
Not wanting this woman to think I was insane for buying 7 bottles of hand sanitizer and 7 first aid kits I quickly spoke up that it was for stockings (at work). She laughed as I went on to tell her that I was NOT a germophobe and that it WASN'T all for me. Her reply was to tell me that she was a psychology major and that she was *sure* she could read something into that and if I needed help to let her know.
The story could end there and be funny, but it continues with the fact that after she and her friend had left the aisle she realized that she had lost her Coach wallet. I overheard her and since we'd had such a fun conversation just moments earlier I started looking around as well. I saw it sitting on the conveyor belt and pointed it out to her, she thanked me profusely and then said "I'm losing it, you are gonna have to start counseling me!"

Christmas shopping is FUN[NY]!