Out with all the crazies looking for spirit... or the perfect gifts.

So with the schedule which is my life, I have had no time to really shop for hours and hours except the day after Thanksgiving. With 2 days left till "the big one" I have quite a few gifts and stocking stuffers to get. Since I was shopping with one of the people I need to finish with, I was destined to be out on Christmas Eve. Sounds fun, we shall see.

Okay, so I get that people are trying to figure out that special gift that will make the receivers' eyes all a glow, I get that they are the only ones who are in a hurry but where I lose my patient hat and want to do nothing else but strangle them with it, is when people swirve or stop in front of me. I have little patience for stupid drivers. I will end this rant here.

My biggest gifting problem you ask? Every year my bank sponsers an orphange with a giving tree. I try to pick 2 or 3 cards because no matter how much I think I'm struggling, I really am not. Well this year they chose older kids and with older kids come more expensive price tags. So I chose a girl who wanted a game (wow what a shocker). So little 9 year old Karen wanted a Scavenger Hunt board game. I went to Target, I found nothing. I went to Wal-Mart, again nothing. I went to Toys R Us.... oh yes, nothing. I went to K-B's, Walgreens, Longs, Rite-Aid... nothing, nothing and more nothing. WHAT'S ON EARTH WAS THIS MYSTERY GAME? So I went to the tell all know all of games... Board game geek, it showed me a game from 1982. Damn. So I tried Ebay, same 1982 board game. Now 3 weeks have gone by and it's 2 days before Christmas and the gift is due TODAY. So I got to thinking... Scavenger Hunt, finding things, figuring out, solving clues... CLUE. There is a new version that is called Clue Mysteries. I've seen that everywhere and it's about $20ish, I thought that would be nice. I went to Target and they had one copy. I figured that was a sign. Looking over the box I'd wish they'd had 2 so I could have bought a copy for myself. Happy with my purchase, I walked in the bank smiling and I think a hint of Christmas spirit found itself inside me.

Another debacle... the big dog store. My mom saw this sweatshirt she really liked on this lady at the beach last weekend. I wanted to buy it for her. So I went to the mall 2 days before Christmas.... oye. Parking was pretty simple, amazing. We walked into the big dog store and looked around, I wasn't seeing it. Finally, as I was turning to leave, I saw it in the furthest back corner. I marched on over and started looking at sizes... 5x, 5x, 5x, 4x, 4x, 3x, 2x, 1x.... crap. Since when are there only huge sizes left... saddened, I walked out of the store. The mall was a bust but Karen still got her game, I hope she likes it.

6 hours past and many a bag was loaded into the back of my car. Lists were checked off, smiles all around. Only a few gifts left for tomorrow. Sweet.

Happy Hollowdays... I think people have forgotten what they are about... the hollowness saddens me.