How to soften the holiday crowd

I woke up this morning feeling quite miserable. My throat hurt. My nose was stuffy and tender. My head ached. I was coughing up stuff that closely resembled green paste. And last of all, my already tenuous voice had given up entirely. My state did not bode well for shopping today.

It did make John feel sorry for me, so for the second morning in a row, he went out to pick up coffee for me. I stayed in my pajamas and watched TV with Booie, then we all watched a movie while everyone else ate lunch and I drank coffee. By the time the movie ended, I thought I'd go ahead and brave another day of holiday shopping, even though I didn't have a voice.

Had I known the kindness shown to me for simply being voiceless, I would have done it yesterday too. I was amazed by how people would step aside and tell me how sorry they were when I tried to whisper "excuse me" as loud as a person can whisper. Grumpy shoppers became pleasant and helpful. People weren't even this nice when I was pushing Booie around in a wheelchair.

I was happy to get a lot more done today than I did yesterday too. I found gifts for several of the people on my list, and I don't have too many more to buy.

Maybe the tide turned last night when I found out the reason I couldn't find the Barbie Fashion Kitty I was looking for was because it seems to be one of those popular toys this Christmas. I frantically checked all the online toy sites I could find, but all were sold out. There was one on Yahoo! Auctions for a mere $39.99, only $10 more than the store shelf price. Being the cheapskate that I am, there was no way I was paying that much more for an item that would be on store shelves the day after Christmas on sale for something like 25 bucks. I checked eBay, expecting the same inflated prices. To my surprise, they weren't going for much more than the regular price, and I managed to snag one for only $26. With shipping and insurance, I won't pay any more than had I got it full price in the store with tax. I'm very pleased with myself. I got the one and only thing Booie asked from Santa. When she told him what she wanted, he actually asked her, "Don't you want anything else?" and she told him, "No." There was a touch of urgency to get the Barbie Fashion Kitty.