Christmas Shopping

 

Like most people these days, and quite sadly to be honest, I rarely go out shopping to physical stores.  Online shopping has become so convenient.  Of course, it's not like the old days of ordering something from a catalog which, in itself, was a form of convenience but you had to do it early if you were shopping for Christmas.  Once the order was received, by mail, it would take 6 to 8 weeks before it arrived.  Our society does not like to wait that long anymore.  Alas, I am also guilty of doing online shopping for the holidays but at least these days I mostly shop from independent stores and stores that use independent artisans.  So, in essence it is a form of supporting small businesses, just differently than in person. 

Yesterday was different for me.  I got up early.  Well, I always get up early but this time I had a purpose (outside of my normal purpose of going to work). I made a list of places to go and do some Christmas shopping.  I warmed up my car and hit the road.  I was at the first store just a little after they opened at 7:00 a.m.  I have not done this in years.  And I had a blast shopping.  It really put me in the Christmas spirit.  Well, it enhanced my Christmas spirit as I already have that. There was Christmas music playing over the sound system, the staff was friendly and helpful and there were plenty of other shoppers, but no one really got into each other's way.  I found some great things and got inspired to do more shopping today. 

It got me to thinking about all the times going Christmas shopping when I was growing up. We would go to the Monroe Mall and it would be decorated to the hilt.  It always looked amazing back in the day.  In the early years of the mall, Belk's department store had a room set aside for kids to shop for their parents. Dad took me there several times when I was little to get a gift for Mom. One year she got a mirror on a stand for her vanity.  Another year she got a green umbrella.  And you could buy the gift prewrapped or not.  I think I always got the prewrapped one. I remember going to the Hallmark store and buying things there.  One year I got Grandmother a Christmas card that played Silent Night.  I don't know if they still make cards like that today but at the time, it was an extravagant purchase for me and that card sat on her coffee table every Christmas until it could no longer play.

Once a year during the shopping season, we would venture to Charlotte on a Saturday for a day of holiday shopping.  Eastland Mall was the place to be in those days.  They had an ice-skating rink that always amazed me. It was so much fun to look down over the second-floor railing to watch the skaters on the ice. In my high school days, Eastland Mall had run down some and Carolina Place Mall became the place to be.  I went there many times with my friends, especially at Christmas.  The last time I went there was when I was a senior in high school. Tanya, Jonathan and Jim Edwards and I piled into Tanya's minivan for an evening of holiday shopping.  Hard to believe that was over 30 years ago now.

And that made me remember of a shop that was on highway 74 between Monroe and Charlotte.  I cannot remember the name of it, but they sold a lot of brass and glass items.  You could get them engraved there as well.  We stopped there one day, and I found a set of brass elephants in a ring holding up a glass ball for Grandmother.  It was a random gift, but she loved it and displayed it year-round.  It's fun finding those shops you don't normally go into and discovering something wonderful.  That's one of the joys of Christmas shopping. Of getting out there and seeing what people have to offer.  As convenient as it is to click a mouse sometimes, it is just as important to go out and look around.  You never know what you will find.