Friday, December 4, 2009

Christmas Shopping, the Holy Grail, and the Patron Saint of Mothers Shopping Alone with Two Babes

“Wow!” That’s pretty much all I can say. It’s like I pushed the fast forward button on warp speed after Thanksgiving, and next thing I knew, a whole week went by in a blink of an eye! So what have I been up to, you may (or may not) be wondering? SHOPPING!! And not the fun kind where I browse, and think, “Oh so-and-so would like that. I think I’ll get it.” After paying in cash for my item, I think to myself, “I think I’ll have a Starbucks. I’ll have a large 2% crème Brule latte with whip and the crunchy things on top, since there are no calories in it.” (This is MY fantasy shopping trip)!

No, my shopping this week started with scouring the Internet for deals on princess castles on AND after Thanksgiving, and then again on Cyber Monday. Then I went on Price Grabber a gagillion times to see if I could pay anything less than $50 for a princess castle. And then there it was, The Disney Special Moments Cinderella Castle, the Holy Grail of Princess Castles (according to Marie . . . I would have preferred the one from Imaginarium . . . if it was not like $100+). I found the Holy Grail at Wal-Mart with free shipping for $44. I felt like I made a deal with the devil on many different levels. But whatever, it’s Christmas, and I knew it was a toy she would play with for hours and hours and hours.

Then there were the two super rushed shopping trips to actual brick and mortar stores. Harrington took a half a day, and we scurried around town with coupons galore gripped in our sweaty, deal-hungry hands! We begged and pleaded with the lady at Kohls to take our coupon a day early so we wouldn’t have to go back. We ran in and out of Target so fast, I am sure the child-like security guard thought we had lifted some merch’.

And then I had the insane idea of shopping alone with my babes. I ran to 3 stores with my double side-by-side stroller. I was feeling pretty good about myself as I gracefully navigated through dressing rooms and areas with breakable glass. I felt even better when I went to the Disney Store and shopped for Marie unbeknownst to her. (I took a sales person and literally spelled out what I needed to put in my bag, had her hold it behind the counter while Marie picked out a decoy purchase for her and Thomas. I never knew how fast I spelled when the lady looked at me and said that she only heard the "l-y" from j-e-w-l-r-y). I was feeling all heady from the buy-one-get-one sale, pulling my sneaky shopping trip off without one of my shopping companions being any wiser, AND that I hadn’t lost either babe in the store, we decided to celebrate at the food court. She wanted a hot dog, and my bourbon chicken was on the opposite side. So being the good mother that I am, I bought her from hot dog first and then attempted to push my big-ass stroller in one hand and hold her tray with RED fruit punch in the other. I got so close to my bourbon chicken stand and then I bumped into a table and SPLASH went the RED fruit punch all over Marie, the stroller, my new shoes, and Thomas’s pants. The Patron Saint of Mothers Shopping Alone with Two Babes must have been looking down on me because the custodial service workers were right there to clean EVERYTHING (even the stroller) for me. And when I told the bourbon chicken guy I foolishly tried that crazy maneuver all for the bourbon chicken, he gave me an extra scoop. Thanks Patron Saint of Mothers Shopping Alone with Two Babes! So even though that was a disaster, the babes were great. I also reveled in the fact that (despite The Fruit Punch Incident) I am getting better at taking the both babes out all by myself!

How’s your shopping coming along? Any good stories from this year (or those from Christmas past)?

5 comments:

Unknown said...

LOL! Awesomeness. So nice of the custodial workers to help clean up! I dropped a $5 Lifetime Fitness smoothie in the doorway of Meijer once, and they made me clean it myself!!! Here's some paper towel ma'am...

Thanks for the smiles!

Zoe said...

To cute! Leo want a castle too but the one of his dreams includes a dragon and knights with weapons.

Anonymous said...

Great job! Isn't it funny that the only mishap was MOM? I remember taking all three kids to McDonalds by myself and everything went well until I spilled my drink...and Ashleigh called the manager over b.c I was a problem. Seriously. You're a great mom! And my shopping...? DONE. I have bought for my favorites (your babies) and my kids..life is sweet.

Laura said...

To give you an indication of how well my Christmas shopping is going, I kept reading "Patron" as the name of a famous brand of tequila! Sigh... I haven't found my shopping mojo yet, but did sneak online tonight to try to make a few purchases. However, instead of shopping I'm reading your blog. :-) Thanks for the great story. The one handed stroller manuever should be an Olympic level sport.

New York Mama said...

Great story and accomplishment!!! My shopping is getting done in wonderful, frenzied, manic high spurts of energy; feeling like I've accomplished sooo much. It's alternating with depths of despair and panic because there is always ions more that I want to do and so little time!

The Christmas shopping story that comes to mind was the year my son was born. He was born in October and was 2 months old as I did most of my holiday shopping. This was pre internet shopping times. My son and I went everywhere together and he was a delightful traveler (thanks goodness)! He adored car rides. Between his stroller, snuggly, and just holding him in my arms; we could and did shop for hours. The stroller actually made a great shopping cart. We had our little routine down. He'd start out in the stroller as we perused the variety of shops to choose from. Usually as soon as we'd enter a specific store, I'd scoop my boy up in my arms, show him some of the merchandise, talk, coo, and sing to him about all sorts of things. Sometimes he would smile, coo back, and with wide eyes look all about being very aware of his surroundings. Other times he would simply doze off in my arms, snuggly, or stroller. I'd breast feed him in the women's dressing rooms of the finest stores. I'd grab something to eat while he was sleeping. The best was I got a lot done and spent precious one on one with my baby boy. I remember being awed by his easy going ways and stamina, as sometimes we'd be out for 10 and 11 hours straight! To this day, at 15 years old, one of my son's favorite things to do together is to go shopping with me.