Monday, December 24, 2007 Baumgart: A Merry Christmas rush By Elisabeth Baumgart inkblots
MERRY eggnog drinking, mistletoe kissing, gift giving, fake pine tree decorating Christmas to everyone!
Since today is officially Christmas Eve, I am more than happy to report that the Christmas shopping rush is nearly over. It will again be safe to go back into the streets and to the malls without worrying over the possibility of a stampede or dying of asphyxia.
Despite the jovial mood and merriment that is in the air, moods usually turn sour while doing your Christmas shopping. And standing in a line that just refuses to move after what feels like one whole hour is enough to make anyone see red.
I am more than pleased with myself, as I have successfully finished off my Christmas shopping list four days before Christmas-which, in my book, is relatively early.
My so-called diligence in Christmas shopping, though, still did not evade the deadly sea of Christmas shoppers. So for two days in a row, I painfully waded through a sea of hungry bargain hunters in the old street of Colon late at night.
It’s a miracle that I am alive.
I guess that’s where the magic of Christmas lies: surviving the whole Christmas experience.
It takes a miracle to successfully pull off the Christmas festivities and suffering only a few gashes and bruises in the end.
Guts and determination are definitely needed while doing your Christmas shopping. Nothing is more frustrating in the world than rushing to the grocery chillers in your disheveled, tired and stressed state and just when you reach for it, an equally stressed housewife grabs the last Christmas ham. It’s a situation like this that spells Christmas disasters.
It requires a lot of strength and courage to brave the dangerous crowds of delirious Christmas shoppers. Shopping in malls are usually worse because lines tend to take hours to move and there are about a million people in one tiny store.
What fascinates me even more is how fast money magically disappears before your eyes. If that isn’t Christmas magic, then I do not know what is.
No matter how tight you try to pull your strings, you still end up paying way too much for things.
But then again, all that Christmas hassle is worth it.
Sustaining all the bruises, spending all that hard-earned cash and fighting over the last Christmas ham are worth the trouble if you celebrate Christmas with the people you love. Again, that’s where the beauty of Christmas lies (in a rather masochistic way, come to think of it).
With that, I wish every tired Christmas shopper a Merry Christmas. May you enjoy drinking eggnog (or whatever festive liquor pleases your tired shopper soul), kissing under the mistletoe and giving out the gifts you fought so hard for.
