It's begining to look alot like.....

High credit card bills, interest fees, and mad shoppers, and pissed off people who can't find parking!

Yes, it's that time of the year again, when it seems the population of Cowtown triples and the malls are packed, shoulder to shoulder, wall to wall, with Christmas shoppers.

But guess what everyone... This is the first time, since I was so little my parents shopped, and put my name on the 'from' line, that I'm DONE shopping before December 20. Well, I'm not DONE, but I'm at least done the girlfriend's presents (which are the hard ones anyway). I'm usually an advocate for last minute shopping; after all, last minute shoppers get the best gifts. They don't have time to go "oh, this is a little more than I wanted to spend on little baby son-of-a-bitch, I'll keep looking". Nope, instead it's "wrap it up and shove it in the hockey bag with the rest of em!"

I love my uncle, used to come into the family Christmas every morning with his hockey bag LOADED with presents, it was just like Santa's sack! - no sexual reference intended. Then of course, my sister and I got older, and our cousins, still being the little ones, got all the gifts... damn spoilt brats!

So the girlfriend and I went to the mall last weekend, do a little shopping, see a movie, and hit dinner with a friend from SAIT - Lemon, if you're reading, gotta do it again sometime soon - and for the love of all things holy, we're terrible christmas shoppers! What did we walk out with? After being in the mall for 2 1/2 hours shopping (+ dinner/movie)? A tank top and sweater for the girlfriend (not as presents, but as clothes)... and ONE bloody gift for my mom.

Wow.

So I guess we'll be back at it again, this time, with the credit cards already getting into "July Payoff" zone, there won't be any shopping for ourselves, hopefully we're a little more productive.

But I've got to admit, usually I'm not into the whole Christmas thing that much, at least not very early. But this year, I don't know; something feels; different. I'm actually looking forward to getting together with friends, and family and having a few good, relaxing days together. Maybe it's the fact that everyone's grown apart a little bit over the past while. The g/f and I have been out over a year now, the Sister's moved to B.C. It's different now.

It's funny how, when you live at home, all you do is talk about how you can't wait to get out on your own. Get a place with friends, or your girlfriend, or even move to a whole new city/province/country. But, once you leave, everything changes, and you can't wait to go home, and at least visit the place you grew up in.



B-Rush's Poll question (feel free to answer in comments):

Gift ideas for the 50 year old "handy" Dad, who's got ALL the tools he could ever want.