I Miss The Days Of Holiday Shopping When The Kids Rode In A Stroller. I'd Carry The Children And Fill The Stroller With All My Purchases. Would It Be Wrong To Bring A Stroller With Me To The Mall Even Without Toddlers In Tow? It's Something I'd Consider.

I love the holiday season.  I mean LOVE it.  I have visions of starring in my own holiday show - I'd be dressed in something stylishly festive and cheerfully going about my daily tasks and holiday chores to a soundtrack of rocking Christmas hits.  Although I think it's safe to assume the Mallory High Christmas Special is a no-go, I do try to take this kind of attitude with me as much as I can during the season.  And yesterday was a particularly good time for me to put my holiday vision into action.  I went Christmas shopping.

Now I'm normally an online shopping kinda girl.  I am slightly reclusive love to be home and the fact that I can take care of all the holiday buying for my loved ones in peace and quiet is a wonderful thing.  But, because I'm feeling a tad more adventurous these days and my schedule was permitting, I headed to the mall to see what goodies I could find in person.  I would like to apologize now to anyone who may have been negatively affected by what they saw at the end of the day.

I started out a vision of holiday cheer.  I was wearing some new bootcut jeans, a  simple black t-shirt, and my fancy red damask coat.  I was having a good hair day too.  I hopped in my car, gathered up about 17 used Kleenexes, stuffed them in the trash (we've had a bit of a head cold issue at our house), and cued up my iPhone to shuffle my extensive holiday tune collection as I drove to the mall.  It felt great.

Apparently, a lot of people are out shopping this time of year (who knew?).  I thought maybe I'd have the place to myself on a Tuesday, but I was wrong.  I ended up parking about a half mile from the mall and leapfroging across lakes of melted, dirty snow to get to my destination.  But that's okay, because it's the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.

I had some good luck shopping.  And I remembered to ask for boxes (and gift receipts) as I was checking out in each store which made me feel super pulled together, but also meant that the bags I was carrying were hard to hold and weighed about 10 lbs. each.  I was in a hurry because the kids needed to be picked up, so I never stopped to eat (unfortunately) or look in a mirror (more unfortunately).  As I was leaving a little boy looked at me and moved closer to his mother as I passed him.  "That's odd," I thought, as I set my bags down to fish through my purse for the car key.  Then I caught my reflection in the mirrored window of Abercrombie & Fitch.

I had zhuzhed my hair briefly while shopping and the curls had created a pyramid effect on the right side of my head - I'd taken on a very distinct Phyllis Diller appearance.  Carrying all the bags and my purse on my shoulders had caused my t-shirt to somehow start riding so high on my body it was coming up my neck.  My cute jacket was untying itself - the belt had one short piece at the waist and a longer half that was grazing the floor.  And my jeans had grown about 3 sizes too large and were now officially under my feet and sliding down my body.  Thank goodness I was wearing a longer jacket.

So I didn't end my day elfing as well-coiffed as I'd started, but I accept mine is not a path of perfection.  I retied my jacket, pulled up my pants, tamped down my hair and sung 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree' to myself as I forged my way back to the car.  I do hope the little boy I scared has recovered.  I'm just glad to have had the day to shop - it's really a luxury to be able to do that on a weekday (I honestly can't imagine how it would be on a weekend - that would test the spirit of even a holiday junkie like myself), but I'm even more glad to know I can take care of my remaining holiday chores from home.  Fireside.  

I'm wearing these.

Nordic leggings I found on Clearance at Target for less than $10.  I bought them for Eliza, but she wasn't a fan.  Now they're mine.  I can do yoga in them, work in them, online shop in them, and do laundry too.  Perf.  Plus, I imagine they'll work great for later when I have a celebratory glass of wine.

gratitude:  eucalyptus oil, my new Diptyque candle, being Mom, getting paid

thanks and love.