traditions

christmas traditions

The girls and I go Christmas shopping the Saturday before Christmas once winter break has started. It is really the only time I have to shop.

We look forward to it every year. We enjoy the day together armed with money and lists and have lunch and laugh and try not to get crushed in the sea of humanity.

This year's shopping trip was remarkable because everything went off without a hitch. We found all the items on our lists, we had just enough money and the crowds were not so bad. Oh, and it snowed...finally. 

Normally it snows here beginning in October. Well, this year we had yet to see one flake. Whilst we were walking around town yesterday, enjoying each others' company, a blizzard blew in! It was amazing to stand on the street corner and feel the rush of the wind and the huge snowflakes pummeling us. After waiting so long it felt like a Christmas miracle and increased our holiday joy.

Another thing that increased our joy yesterday was Roxie. She is awesome and always does the most amazing things that give me material for my blog posts. We were shopping in Douglas, a perfume store, looking at perfumes for gifts and she came up to me with a look of pure amazement on her face. Gripped between her fingers was a single coffee bean and close behind her was a store employee. "Mum, look! They have a coffee bean dispenser here!", she blurted out. The store employee asked me politely if my daughter wouldn't, please, put the coffee bean back. I then proceeded to explain to Roxie that the jar of coffee beans was not a "free-coffee-bean-to-all-holiday-shoppers" dispenser but rather a jar for sniffing to clear your olfactory senses in between sniffing perfumes. And please, Roxie, put the bean back so we can shop here again, OK? Then I made the international sign for "my daughter is mildly insane" to the shop employee so she would know that not all foreigners must be banned from their store.