Holiday Greetings! I hope everyone is done with their shopping!
(Ho ho ho – since it’s a bit too late now…)
I haven’t been into this Christmas, really, but I did do some shopping. It was mostly for my partner’s parents and sisters. I got something for my mother and some other select items. It’s funny, but I bought most of these things during a week period two weeks ago at various sample sales.
Just in time for the holidays, all the fashion companies were having sample sales of their previous spring and fall line. Of course it’s a gimmick, but one that draws me in like a moth to a flame. I usually don’t shop, but when you put me in front of a good deal… game over.
I used to work near 3 “Lots Less” stores and for a while I used to go to them religiously 3 times a week. My coworkers would be like, “?!$#&!” My cubicle had at least 2 full bags that I would need to take home at any time. They would ask me why I need 10 small 99 cent mac n’ cheese cups to keep in the office (and subsequently steal them – ahem!), but at the time it seemed like a good idea. I would buy random items that seemed brilliant, like a laptop lap board with fans in it to cool your laptop. Have I used it even once? Nah.
Seriously. These shops should have business meetings with my big fat face as the target.
That week… I would innocently enough just stop by during lunch to browse… and then 30 minutes later I am wincing at the register as I purchase non-returnable items in bulk. It started as “I’m just going to pick up this $10 scarf… which somehow turned into $100+. I don’t really want to discuss that. Ridiculous. I think in that one week, I went to Collection 18 (which does Henri Bendel, Vera, etc…), Natori, Lauren Merkin, etc… At work I would go to lunch and literally come back with two large paper bags. It was ridiculous and I lamented that I probably have a problem. I would leave, just to browse, and of course come back with serious baggage.
The tipping point of when I realized my problem was when I finished my initial Christmas shopping and still went back to accessory shop. I found some silk scarves marked down 90% and decided to get 6. I saw my friend Lige the other day and this is SUCH an Asian thing. We’re like squirrels hoarding acorns for the winter… because uh… delicate silk scarves are going to keep me so warm. Um, yeah. Does that work? (And yes they were all the same.)
Issues. Anyway. This is just to say, I finished my shopping that week. Today was spent quietly at the gym and at home with my mother. I gave her her present and tomorrow will probably be just as quiet. We’re not big Christmas people.
As an afterthought, I told my mother about my excessive scarf buying and she was, of course, in agreement that those are always good to have around. Like mother like daughter, I suppose. She’s the one who taught me how to hoard. (Oy vey!)
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