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Three sisters, Two shopping lists, and One revelation
by Kim Leady


I did it! I don’t know how I survived, but I have the receipts, sore feet and bruised ego to prove it.

What I’m talking about is a shopping adventure I took with my two younger sisters, three days before Christmas. I know what you’re thinking. What fool would try something she has never done before, under the pressure and congestion of Christmas Eve count down? Believe me, I asked myself that more than once that night.

But, because of life’s little challenges; i.e. jobs, kids, husbands, and money, it took all but an act of Congress just for the three of us to juggle our schedules and plan this kind of trip…(no kids, no husbands, and money to spend) to finish our shopping in the final hours before Christmas.

You see both of my sisters have children much younger than mine. My baby sister, Patty, has three ranging from 18 months to 10 years and Dee Dee has a 4-year-old and a 7-year-old. So you see they don’t have the luxury, yet, to take a couple of hours without the kids and finish their Christmas shopping, especially since most of the elusive items left to find were to be in Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve.

It was the Friday before Christmas and we were to meet at my house and leave around three…we left at 5:10 p.m.. No problem I thought to myself as I pointed our van for Nashville, we could make up this loss of time with clipping ten minutes here and there. I could still have us back to my house by 11:00 p.m.. Wrong!!! Boy was I wrong.

The first mistake I made was sharing my game plan with my sisters. As far as they were concerned, they were AWOL and nothing nor anyone including their older sister was going to haul them back to reality until they were ready to go. I hadn’t even uttered my strategy for our second stop before they took my watch and told me that I could toss my schedule out the window, they had no kids, no time schedule, and lots of shopping to do.

The fact they said “lots of shopping to do” should have sent up a glowing-neon red flag. When we were making plans, as far as I knew, all Dee Dee had to get was a shirt for her husband, the horse riding Barbie and a hockey jersey for their neighbor. And Patty’s list was even shorter than Dee Dee’s. All she was shopping for was a black powder pistol for her husband. And as for me, well all I had on my list was our parents’ gift.

But I was still trying to figure out how, being the oldest, I had lost control over my sisters, the vehicle I was driving, and in short, the next several hours.

The second mistake I made was to think I could herd them through 2 malls, 3 toy stores, and 1 sit-down meal (a meal complete with a waitress serving our food on plates garnished with parsley, not toys) in only a couple of hours.

I guess the moment I gave up being Mother Time was while we were eating and the everyday stress lines began to disappear from our faces. Unfortunately, allowing the time to slip away had us leaving Opry Mill’s Mall at 8:30 p.m., barreling down Interstate 65 trying to get to the new hockey arena in Franklin before they closed at nine. However, I’m happy to report we shoved Dee Dee out of the van in front of the pro shop’s door 3 minutes before they closed. And that included stopping at a fire station to get directions. Now is that good or what?

The next few hours were sort of a blur. I recall shopping at Cool Springs Mall and the Toys-R-Us in Franklin. And I think we drove through Target’s parking lot, but I’m still not sure if we stopped to shop. By midnight we were being ushered out by management at the Toys-R-Us in Bellevue…can you believe they wanted to go home?

As we headed back towards Dickson, Dee Dee and Patty did a quick inventory of the packages. We had managed to get everything on our lists except for the Barbie doll. It was at this time that I had a revelation.
Living and shopping with my husband and our two sons over the last twenty years had transformed my female shopping hormones.

I had not realized that I shop like a man. I go into a store, find what I’m looking for, pay for it and leave. I now know this is all wrong. Here is the correct way, and I know this because my sisters were so kind to perform the correct method that night for me.

First, you go to the store’s area that should have what you’re looking for and then you wonder off toward another area because you see a sale sign, which leads to another area where you see something cool but you don’t need. Only after several hours in the store is it acceptable to finally find what you are shopping for in the first place and buy it.

As I waved good-bye to my sisters who were headed for yet one more store (Wal-Mart never closes) I heard them shout, “Do you need anything?”

Yeah, I thought. I need 8 hours of sleep, two new feet, and a ‘how-to-book’ on marathon shopping.


I hope you have enjoyed this story. It is one of my favorite and was one of the best recieved by my readers.

Kim

PS - this has turned into an annual event, which believe it or not I have come to look forward to. In fact, tomorrow (Friday) is S-day. But fear not...I have gotten much better at this marathon shopping. In the corner of my office is a pile of stuff... mall maps, GPS, shopping lists, sale ads and tennis shoes.

I love reading these stories, Kim. This one is a hoot! Our shopping trip on Saturday after Thanksgiving went something like this:

1. At KMart (at 7:00 a.m.) with the intent on snagging a door-buster special LCD HDTV. This was Karen - Joan and I were along for the ride. They had 0 in the store. Some doorbuster, as we were the first ones in the electronics department. Not to worry. Sears had the same deal in their ad. And, Sears at Hickory Hollow was only 5 minutes away. Almost no one shops at HH these days, so we thought "ok, they should have one". Nope. None there, either, and they had no idea what we were talking about so apparently they never got them. Did I mention that we have now sworn off shopping at those stores?

2. Next stop - breakfast at IHOP.

3. Then, we hit Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and CJ Banks. Bought stuff at all 3 stores. ALL of it was for us. Not one gift.

At least when you shop with your sisters you actually buy things for other people! Enjoy your trip and drive carefully.

Jan thanks.

So did ya'll ever nab a TV?

Dee Dee and Patty are the ones who have the lists, I usually have all my shopping done by our S-day.

Now about driving safely... the occupants in my Tahoe might have some very colorful things to say about my driving - all lies.


Kim

I went shopping 1 year the day after Thanksgiving and it was pouring rain...My mother and I sat in traffic forever....I haven't done it since!!! I guess I too shop like a man....That's why I go by myself! Get it and get out!!! Thanks and keep them coming!!!!!

jan

sorry to hear you were unable to get the tv from kmart, kim and i were able to get 1 sat morning great tv for that price.

i just hope we can protect this one from kim on game day, she tends to throw stuff at the tv

Oh well - that's how it goes sometimes. Karen sent a few emails to Sears/KMart re: the advertised doorbusters not being available to even the first customer in the store. She got increasingly irritated by their attitude in response - "please understand the limited availability of some sale items". Karen's entire complaint was that the ad should have stated "may not be available in all stores". NOT - limited quantities. Limited, we understand. But I would also have expected that for a major ad, the store might have had at least one to sell to a customer. Limited and none are two different animals. The persons responding to her emails never grasped this concept and kept repeating that they appreciated her business and looked forward to serving her in the future. This, after she stated she would NEVER be shopping in their stores again. We also laughed (ok, I was the one who laughed) at the Sears employee who directed her to a "great" deal on a TV that was twice as large, and more than twice the cost. Ummm....no.

Jan -
LOL Camp got his days mixed up. We actually got ours on Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to try my luck on Friday, so we stopped on the way home from mom's.

It was an experience though. They didn't have them out. We had to stand in line in electronics - the same line folks were using to check out - before they would tell us if they had any in the back.


Pam -
Thanks. It's hard to explain to a person just what kind of experience shopping on black friday is.

Kim

I worked retail for 6 years at then Castner Knott - I really don't like Black Friday all that much (note we shopped on SATURDAY). I can handle BF shopping for about 2 hours max. But, the crowds and lines are so not worth the hassle.

The story is hillarious!! Iwould have to say that I too shop like a Man i go in get what i need and that's it I almost never venture to other areas of the store, now Melanie is completely opposite she can leave in the morning and stay all day long and just look and look and look whew wears me out just thinking about it, but it is also fun to get out with your sisters or friends (female) and just get in the rush of things it really does feel like Christmas when you do that! but not something i would want to do often!!

Thanks for the stories I really do love them!!!

I decided yesterday that shopping WITH my sisters is more fun than shopping for my sister. I had an idea for Karen in mind and I went in at least 6 different stores trying to find the darned present. I was so tired of shopping that I was ready to just say "here's a gift card, Enjoy"

Yvonne - LOL thanks. It sounds like Patty and Melanie are cut from the same shopping cloth.

Jan - I'll have to test your idea out - shop for them instead of with them. So did you get what you were after?


Kim

I love to go and search for things, but if I'm unsure about where to get something, I will usually end up on Amazon.com. I actually saved tons of money that way this year. Several things that the boys wanted this year I found on Amazon with no shipping and no tax, and the price was cheaper than Walmart! It was rather no-hassle. I did fight the Black Friday crowd at Walmart and got the 2 things I was after. I got Brittany a KitchenAid stand mixer for $130. I have never seen one at that price!
Angela