Women in Comfortable Shoes

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12/23/2003: "We're Done!"

We're ready. I think.

We're done shopping. We're done decorating. Tiamo has had her Christmas bath. The only thing left to do is to wrap a few small items and run up to Central Market tomorrow to buy some rolls for Christmas dinner. Maybe we'll drive around and look at lights tonight. Or not. Maybe we'll just stay home, sit in the living room and admire the tree, drink hot chocolate, and listen to Christmas carols or watch Christmas movies.

For the first time in recent memory, I'm not running around at the last minute trying to find presents or stocking stuffers for Mel. I'm astonished at this year's foresight and resourcefulness that allowed me to finish shopping in record time. OK, it wasn't foresight at all. It was the wonderful world of online shopping.

Thank goodness. I dread Christmas shopping crowds. The only time I had to venture forth this year was last Saturday morning, when I got up at 6:30 a.m. in order to be at a certain store by 7 a.m. to get an item on sale. It was a significant savings, or I wouldn't have bothered.

All in all, though, the crowds haven't been as bad as I had feared or as merchants had hoped. Even the weekend after Thanksgiving was no more hectic than a heavyish weekend crowd. People were out shopping, but they weren't buying much beyond the items in the sales flyers. In fact, reports are coming out now indicating that sales aren't as good as early indicators had, well, indicated.

Who said the economy is in recovery? Not the guy who has been standing on the corner of Lamar and Ben White every weekday morning for the last two months. I had the top down on the Miata yesterday, so when I pulled up next to him at the stoplight, we exchanged greetings and I asked him how things were going. He said he's been to the day labor offices every day, but there is little work to be had.

I felt bad as I drove off, because I had nothing to give him. So even though we took the day off today, Mel and I got up early and drove over that way this morning to give him enough to buy a couple of meals or presents or whatever.

So now I'm waiting on UPS to deliver the very last thing I ordered for Mel. I ordered four inexpensive things for Mel's stocking. When I placed the order, I had enough time to opt for Amazon.com's free shipping. So, in its wisdom, Amazon sent these four things in three separate shipments. I'm sure it cost them quite a bit more to ship these things than they are worth, but hey, it's their money.

Most of the time, UPS just leaves packages on our doorstep. If I have something expensive delivered, I've started having them delivered to the office, for added security.

This last item cost me no more than $6.50. And yet, someone in Amazon's shipping department, either as a supreme joke or a mistake, or because they were pissed off at either me or UPS, sent it out Signature Required.

We've missed UPS twice now. The first time, the UPS guy banged on our door at 9 p.m. Friday night. We have a general rule not to open the door to anyone knocking on our door after dark, unless we know who they are. Yesterday, Mel missed the delivery by mere minutes.

Today is the third and final try, so we're stuck at home until they deliver the item. Not that we have anywhere to go. Because, like I said, we're ready.