Friday, December 24, 2004

Merry Christmas

Oh my, what a day. Am actually really glad to be at work tonight even if it is Christmas Eve. My last minute shopping turned into a near disaster today but somehow I managed to survive! Jim had to go to work this morning to make sure that the drive and sidewalks of the apartment building were all clear but he promised that he would be back in town by twelve - and he was. My pay cheque was not going to be ready until 1pm which meant that I had to do my banking and any last minute shopping in under four hours. Originally my girlfriend and I had planned on going out to the mall this afternoon together to grab the last little bit of "supplies". Suddenly though Jim was going to go with us because he still needed to buy a bottle of rye for his father and a bottle of Baileys for his mother. OK fine I thought, the liquor stores are usually jammed so I figured that he would be occupied there in line for most of the afternoon so no big deal.

My daughter called last night to say that she never got to go out to do her last minute shopping. For some reason her Dad would not take her to the mall so she wanted to go with me. OK fine, can't say no to my daughter. Went to get my cheque right at 1pm. Surprisingly there were next to no lines in the bank and I was in and out within 10 minutes. My girlfriend lives near my work and bank so we figured that we would collect her first and then grab Sara. When we got to Tracey's she wasn't close to being ready plus she had some company plus her and her boyfriend were kind of scrapping. Great. I sent Jim off to get Sara because her father lives about a half an hour drive away from Tracey's and completely the opposite direction from the mall that we were going to.

Jim actually made the round trip in about 45 minutes which was pretty good considering the day and weather and all...and yet Tracey still was not ready. She had managed to get rid of her company but by this time her and Shay were really battling verbally. As soon as Jim got back I told him to take Sara and I to Fabricland as I wanted to grab some taffeta - I make my own gift bags for everyone - Serena Sacks!!! I told Tracey what I was doing and I said to be ready when Jim got back so that we could get out to the mall. Sara and I got the material but I had to listen to her grumble and mutter that there wasn't anything here for her to buy. Excuse me? I told her that this shopping expedition was not all about her, that in fact she had plenty of time and money to get hers done but I had had to wait for this pay to grab my last minute things. She kind of backed off a little after my outburst and actually did a good job in picking out some really nice fabrics. The $18-$22/m taffeta was on for less than $5/m which was literally a steal so I ended up getting about four times more than I had planned and only spending $10 more than I had budgeted.

We finally got to the mall but by now it was 4pm and the mall was closing in an hour. Tracey and I separated and I was hoping that Sara was going to go off on her own but no, she wanted to stay with me. At this point, well probably earlier, I wrote off getting any of my own shopping done. Bought Sara a new outfit for Christmas day - a black pair of cords and a red zip up sweatshirt for a total of $46. Managed to sneak away momentarily and I found some nice fishnet tights that she likes at a pretty good price so I bought her four pairs for her stocking. She has a mug and a nice Ralph Lauren shirt for her Dad but she thought that this wasn't enough so she bought him the "King Arthur" dvd also - well I guess I did because I actually paid for it.

She still had to go home to get the other presents for her father and the rest of her clothes because she had forgotten all these when she went originally. Jim stated that he was pretty much done driving for the night so I would have to take Sara back to her father's. Excuse me, did everyone forget that I was the one that had to actually work today? Thank goodness Tracey said that she would drop me off to work, run Sara home and then keep the truck for me until I was finished work at 2am. I just found out now though that I can go home at 10pm if I like. I am thinking that I just might do that so on that note, I need to get my desk all organized because I am not in until next Tuesday!

Happy Holidays to all!!!

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