OH WHAT A RELIEF IT IS!

   SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22ND., 2018
         OF WHAT A RELIEF IT IS!

   I remember when December 24th was my
designated Christmas shopping day! It was
always a challenge to find everything on my
list, check out, and get home wrap all the
presents before Santa showed up around
midnight!
    Somehow I always made it. And, to some
extent, I enjoyed that pure last minute rush!
     Maybe it's my age but this year I didn't
look forward to that last day shopping blitz.
So this year I shopped early. Yesterday!
      I've always heard so much about the
craziness on Black Friday when shoppers
flock to the stores to begin their Christmas
buying. But it couldn't have been much
worse than Friday!
      The long lines of traffic were only
equaled by the long lines of people waiting
in the check out line!
      And God bless those clerks! My wife
found herself in one very long line headed
by a woman who asked the clerk to remove
a bottle of perfume from a locked cabinet
as she was checking out. The clerk obliged.
Then the woman asked for the price. A
perfectly common question. But when the
clerk came up with the answer the woman
got out her cell phone and started a
discussion with someone on the other end
of the call about whether she should buy the
item or, perhaps, get something else!
       All the while my wife, with one item. and
a growing line of others, stood there quietly
waiting. This wasn't a "big box store" with
numerous check out counters or self check
out options.
       I'm so very glad I didn't come across that
lady in any of my Christmas Eve shopping
experiences! Oh well, now I'm done.....almost!
       Hope your list is complete and that all
your NEWS is good!