Thanksgiving Shopping

It's that time of year to swarm the stores!

Friends, it's that time of year again, when we're s'posed to be getting together with our families and pausing to remember to be thankful for everything we have, and for everything we are.  I try to remember a little bit each day, but this is The Time Of Year for it.

With that being said, though, it's also a time of year when everything is all cranked up.  Stores are cranked up to sell, sell, sell.  Shoppers are all cranked up to buy, buy, buy.  Everybody feels like everything has to be PERFECT.  That constant chase for perfection can make us all forget what's important.

For instance, I was doing my shopping for Thanksgiving at the Little Kid Grocery Store.  Yes, the same place that makes the wonderful marshmallow salad and now limits how much wonderful marshmallow salad a kid can buy at one time.  That's okay, though.  Limited marshmallow salad is better than no marshmallow salad at all!

Anyway, I was doing my shopping for Thanksgiving, and it was a ZOO in there, Friends!  You wouldn't believe how people act!  Fighting over green beans in the canned goods aisle.  Getting into arguments over who was first in the line at the deli counter.  Quibbling over coupons in the check-out. 

Now, I understand, thirty cents off is thirty cents off, but if the coupon expired before you were born, you really oughtta letitgo and not make the checkout girl feel small for not taking the expired coupon, Friends.  Just sayin'. 

I'd never try to pass an extremely out-of date coupon at the checkout, Friends, but I hate to admit that I DID get carried away in the ugliness this time of year at the Little Kid Grocery Store.  I did.

Back off, Pidgie!  These crackers are mine! I'm makin' Goldfish Casserole!

You see, there was only one boxa Goldfish Crackers left on the endcap when I was coming out of the canned goods aisle.  I'm makin' Goldfish Casserole for my Thanksgiving feast, and I needed that boxa Goldfish Crackers.  I had my hands on the box when Pidgie McDougall raced over from the meat department and said she'd been eyeballin' those Goldfish while she was picking out her turkey leg in the meat case, and I should hand over the Goldfish. 

Well, Friends, Pidgie and I have a long history of antagonism, and don't you know this Tiger Baby roared right in Pidgie McDougall's face and told her that those Goldfish Crackers were going in MY Goldfish Casserole.  Then to drive the point home, I roared in her face again and hightailed it down the next aisle, where they have the Goya stuff.  I needed a container of Adobo.

Thing of it is, I got to feelin' bad about the way I roared at Pidgie.  I'm not a fan of hers by any stretch of the imagination, but it isn't like me to roar in people's faces like that, so I caught up to her at the checkouts.  I was already in line, and she was trying to find a checkout lane that wasn't ten people long. 

I'm sorry, Pidgie. Please enjoy going ahead of me in the checkout as a token of my sorritude!

I let Pidgie go in front of me and said I was sorry for earlier, when I roared at her.  Pidgie didn't have anything to say to me, and I guess that's okay.  Pidgie and I aren't friends.  I've told you that.  And I don't need her to be all chummy with me, even if I did let her go in front of me at the checkout line. 
The reason I did that was so I wouldn't feel so bad about roaring at her. 

Wouldn't you know, though, Friends.  That Pidgie had a full shopping cart, and an even fuller Coupon Keeper, so checking her order out took the girl FOREVER!  AND, Pidgie was trying to get her to take coupons from the Oughties!  What?!  Pidgie, you shouldn't try to use coupons that expired before you were born!  You're a year older than I am!  You weren't around for the Oughties, either!

Anyway, Friends.  Be aware.  The holidays are s'posed to be warm and happy and family-family-family, love-love-love, but sometimes, ugliness can rear its ugly head.  We're all under lotsa pressure to have everything Just So.  We're all under a lotta pressure, and we're all fightin' battles nobody knows about.  So even when you're dealin' with a Pidgie, it's important to try to be kind and not go out of your way to make trouble.  You don't hafta be a doormat, but you don't hafta roar in people's faces or be annoying just for the fun of it.  That's all I'm sayin'. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've gotta get my Little Kid Groceries put away so I can go on the Pinterest and look for the best recipe for Goldfish Casserole!  I love ya, Friends, and I'll see ya tomorrow!  Muah!