Tis the Season

When I was single, back-in-the-day, after getting off of work, Darlene and I would go to the local (and shiny brand new) Wal-Mart, armed with styrofoam cups filled with gin, tonic and extra lime. We'd get some shopping done, randomly wander around the store and around 2am we'd go home. The down side was that drinking and shopping at Wal-Mart ends up with some interesting items the next day. Like the time that I bought two bikinis for myself, simply because they were 80% off. That might have been a really good deal, if I had any businesss wearing one.
I knew this morning when Jorma left for Target that he wasn't going to be happy when he came home. I think he was hoping that it wasn't going to be wall to wall with people, which it was, but he also reported that people were standing, staring and not moving as if they were making a life changing decision in whether to purchase the green or the blue sweater for their mother in law. When he came home, his hair was just a little bit taller on his head but he wasn't as frazzled as I thought he would be.
I sympathized with him, but then was compelled to call him from my cell when I went shopping for a belt and found that I couldn't bear to wait in line for an hour and a half just to keep my jeans from sliding down my bottom. Wait in line for an hour... or plumbers crack... wait in line for an hour... or... well, I'll try not to bend down in front of you.
Mostly I do my shopping during the day when the kids are in school and I had forgotten what it was like to go out into the general population at noon on a Saturday during the holiday season. It was madnesss. I was thankful that I didn't have my kids with me, as I saw several women struggling with theirs and other moms using their strollers and leverage to break through the crowds. Tis the season.