Count me out!

I will just never understand the need to swarm the malls on the day after Thanksgiving to shop. I did it one time - we were visiting my grandparents in Clearwater, and we went to the local mall, which had an ice skating rink. My sister skated, and mom, grandma and I shopped for a formal dress for me for a dance I had coming up. It was awful - enough to convince me that I never, ever needed to do it again.

This morning's paper had pictures of people who left their family Thanksgiving celebrations to sit outside stores in the cold and be first in line when the store opened at 4:00 am just so they could save $50 on a laptop or video game system. I'd rather stay home, shop later when it's not so crazy, and pay the extra money.

Fortunately, I really don't have that much shopping to do. We've never gone overboard with the kids for Christmas. Neither of them knows that they're supposed to get mountains of loot. They each get one big present and a few little ones from me and B, one present from their siblings, and two or three from Santa. Granted, the grandparents can go a little nuts, but at least my mom has gotten into the habit of running potential gifts by me - this year the girls are getting new backpacks with their initials on them. She'll give them a few other little things, but she knows better than to give things that need batteries or that come with lots of pieces.

B's dad is pretty good about giving them one big joint present. Last year he, at my suggestion, gave them a whirling see-saw for the back yard, which they all love. I've sent him another suggestion for an outdoor toy again this year.

There's just not much that I want or need for Christmas, except maybe some new yarn. I've asked my parents for a new bike rack for the back of my car, and I've asked B for a bike trailer so that I can take Campbell on bike rides with the girls. He's pretty good about paying attention to what I've asked for.

I had vowed not to go shopping at all this weekend, but I need some sort of special wash to use when I felt the purse I'm almost finished knitting. So darn, I'll need to go to the yarn store. Somehow I doubt there will be hordes of people trampling each other for bargains.