To shop or not to shop

I saw a sign from nordstroms that said they will decorate for Christmas after Thanksgiving because they wish to celebrate one holiday at a time. I enjoyed that so much, I may actually start shopping there.

Yes....I am the 'one' who doesn't.

I don't think I really have anything against them. I even worked as a temp there in my youth. It is a great store.

But for some reason I never felt it was for me.

It always seemed so 'above me' and so I never went.

I think I typecast and therefore, I stick to my same places.

I think that is true for a lot of us. We get used to what we like and we go with it and usually stick with it. As it turned out; though I liked Nordies, later in life I worked a Macy's for a longer period of time, and so I stick with them.

But the bottom line is I really hate clothes shopping or any other kind of shopping and so I do my best to avoid it at all costs.

And with the holidays coming, you will not likely find me skipping happily into any stores at all. More likely I will be that grumpy lady, yelling at her kids doing my best just to get through it.

For years I tried so hard to find that perfect gift for each person. My husband would yell at me saying, 'why do you bother...just get gift cards. Nobody cares how much time you spent trying to get that perfect gift'

I resisted for years thinking he was copping out and didn't want to spend time thinking about anyone else.

But one year it happened. I got the call that said, thank you for the gift, but I will be returning it.

So now, it is gift cards for most. Well...that is until my Starbucks debacle where I got a $20 gift card and it came up empty and I was too embarrassed to mention it to the giver. It made me realize that there are probably millions of gift cards floating around empty, while the companies are raking in the Free cash. No thank you!!!

So now, going into this season, I am a bit perplexed as to how to proceed.

I may possibly go into Nordstroms, but if I can avoid it all together, I may just put this task on hubby's list and let him proceed as he wishes.

Would love to hear your thoughts on how you deal and cope with this season. Please feel free to share. I need suggestions and I need them fast. If nothing else....a little encouragement will do.

Happy Thursday