<p>Doncha just hate it? LOL.
I mostly shop online but because I had a nifty code, I ordered something from Macy’s online to pick up at the store. Good lord. Took forever. The counter where you go pick stuff up didn’t have the KEY to the storage room. @@
Whatever happened to common sense? It took forever to track down the person with the key. SMH.</p>
<p>Ok, here’s my shopping story. I went into Lord and Taylor on Monday to buy a nice cashmere sweater for my niece, it was a splurge gift because she is my godchild. Anyway, it was marked down to $80. At the register, I asked if there was a sale on, and the cashier said I could get 25% off if I paid for it today and came back for it in 3 days. So I did, my that sure is annoying. My guess is they want customers to come back again after initial purchase. I am almost done with Christmas shopping. I enjoy it.</p>
<p>That L&T clerk was actually nice by letting you know there was a sale coming- couldn’t give you the lower price today but told you how you could later without worrying about the merchandise being gone by then.</p>
<p>We don’t do any more holidays until New Years but now is the time to catch best prices so we pay attention for our wishes.</p>
<p>The pre-sales concept is very popular with department stores and the like. I asked the guy at Neiman if he could ship to me the stuff that he pre-sold me. Did not have to go back to pick up Mr B’s slacks and shirts! The sales lady at Nordstrom rolled her eyes and said she could not do this for me. It is a good thing that my bus stop is nearby, so I was able to pick up my package on the way home from work. Otherwise, I would have said no thanks. </p>
<p>I am having the best time organizing a surprise Christmas for a very needy and deserving family. People are hearing about it and offering to donate items and money that are way beyond my initial goals. It’s fun to shop for little kids again-my youngest is 15-and for a young lady who isn’t even asking for anything for herself, unless you count a vacuum. I’m not a very religious person but the offers of help from teens who are supposed to be at a very self-centered stage in life, from others who are struggling themselves and still others who don’t even know me well have been humbling and inspiring. </p>
<p>THIS is the kind of Christmas shopping and prep I can get behind!</p>
<p>I shopped early this year, so I am close to being done. I shopped online and locally small businesses. As a small business owner with retail shops, we are actually a little nervous because the online business is getting a little too big for some of us…we do have a website , but our suppliers have limits on what can be sold on line. Let’s face it, not everything " should " be bought online. </p>
<p>I don’t do a lot of shopping for Christmas, but it is a combination of online and in person. I did some of my shopping at a small business owned by a woman I know. I also try to support various fund raising if I can (gift wrapping for donations, poinsettias bought from the HS band, etc). Like sseamom my favorite shopping is for those who really need things.</p>
<p>Argh…shopping. Guess I better get going! Not much to buy. Giving kids Southwest Airlines gift cards. Husband…hmmm.</p>
<p>My S who never has much on his “wish list” has been walking around the house for weeks saying “I just would like a Southwest gift card!” - I guess I better buy one! </p>
<p>My son is nearly 30 and really can buy what he wants. I asked what he wanted and he said the newest Game of Thrones book. H thinks we should S a drone. I think that’s because he is hoping to get a chance to play with it.</p>
<p>Just finished Christmas shopping for our company - we adopt a family each year. Our CEO personally matches money donated by the employees. This year I had $2,800 to spend on a family of 5. The family is chosen by the local elementary school in the same zip code as our office. The family is asked to fill out a list of “needs” and a list of “wants”. The list of “wants” included beds, blankets and pots and pans. </p>
<p>There is only one other women in our office so we volunteer each year to do the shopping (a little afraid of what the engineers we work with would actually purchase). We chose to buy new beds for all 3 kids (bunk-beds and a toddler bed) plus cute matching comforters and sheets. It was great fun to buy clothes for these young kids and some toys and family games. We opted to use the remaining $350 for food and gas cards. The wrapping begins tomorrow. Since we purchased beds we will be delivering direct to the family for the first time. </p>
<p>What an amazing gift - a new bed to sleep in. Thank you for doing this. <3</p>
<p>Awesome, Txmom! Thanks for doing this. Your post made my day.</p>
<p>That’s really awesome Txmom! “My” family has beds but when they first moved last summer they were all sleeping on the floor. We really sometimes forget how good we have it until we see something like that. </p>
<p>We had a Christmas when we were getting food from the food bank, when we were surprised with some books for the girls, after I had only asked for some mittens and hats.
It made me cry to see that somebody who didn’t even know us, cared.</p>
<p>Wow @Txmom14 </p>
<p>That’s what Christmas is all about. How are you able to keep your heart contained in your chest? It must be so full!</p>
<p>That reminds me, EK. I need to get some books for the little guy in the family I am helping. I’ll also ask D for suggestions for the older boys. </p>
<p>Took me a few minutes to remember how to navigate this site (its been a few years). </p>
<p>Our office is really getting into the spirit of providing for this family. Since this is the first year that we are delivering the gifts directly, one of the guys in our office volunteered to dress up as Santa and six of the other guys have agreed to wear elf costumes to help him. My son just got home from collegte, he is coming to the office tomorrow to assemble the bunk beds so we can deliver them fully assembled (they will just need to be stacked upon arrival). We are delivering everything on Friday, Santa’s story is that he wanted to make a special stop at their house so he had plenty of time with them since he will be soooo busy on Christmas Eve (children are 6, 3 and 18 months). </p>
<p>It really did bring tears to my eyes when I read that their “wants” included blankets, certainly there was nothing on any list that didn’t qualify as a basic necessity. We tried to think of everything they would need for 3 months so hopefully they can get a little financial safety net saved up. We’ve included diapers (lots), standard medicines for the cold season, home cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, dish soap etc. as well as $600 of grocery gift cards and the gas cards. It really caused us to do some thinking about how best to meet this family’s needs. </p>
<p>We also had a great time looking for toys they might like, we were checking out at Target (11 carts full) - the young man checking us out asked jokingly if we found everything. When I replied that we had hoped to buy both the 3 year old and the 6 year old a doll from “Frozen” but they were sold out, he called the manager to get two out of the back that they were planning to shelve on Saturday. </p>
<p>Every step in the process has just been a delight. I had forgotten how inexpensive it was to buy children’s clothes (opposed to college age clothing) so we managed to get multiple outfits and winter clothing for each child and new school uniforms for the 6 year old. </p>
<p>Late this afternoon our CEO came to me and told me not to worry about the budget, we could borrow from the regular charity budget if there were still items I felt like this family needed. I have a great boss, not only generous but unconcerned that we have spent several days not getting much work done as we prepare to make this Christmas great for this family. </p>
<p>I’ll keep you posted about how the delivery goes, I expect them to be very overwhelmed as they have not been notified that this is being done. </p>
<p>TXmom, make sure those beds will be able to navigate to the bedrooms fully assembled before having your son spend his time. He just may need to disassemble and then reassemble, unless the kids sleep in the garage.</p>
<p>I also enjoy buying clothes and toys for needy kids since my own children are grown. But I always try to find giving trees and gift drives for the elderly, whose “wishes” are often heartbreaking: sheets, sleepwear, socks. I keep thinking of these folks, some of whom may have worked their whole lives but are now so impoverished as to ask for sheets for Christmas! </p>
<p>Anyway, if you do have some spare money, help out an elderly person. There are so many toy drives for kids, and I sometimes worry that the needy elderly are neglected during the holidays. </p>