The Tension Builds
I have a friend who hates children. More specifically, she hates strollers. She'll hide behind whomever her companion is at the time when she sees them. She did this to me once at the mall, squeaked, and fled, fearing those knee high contraptions of doom would start hunting her. If you spend a lot of time in malls, I could see an irrational fear of strollers becoming a problem.
The task of the weekend was to finish Christmas shopping. Dispite many good intentions for doing mostly home-maders this year, it has ended up being a store-bought holiday. Last night an ambitious project was started in the form of a blanket, but chances are really good that it will turn into Yet Another Scarf as time runs out.
For the most part, going into malls and shopping centers around the holidays is something I'm well prepped for. The lines, the agitated suburbanites, the downright crazy people, and the children, ah yes, the children. You know it's coming, so there's no need for getting all worked up about it, just go in, get it done, and get out. There WILL be a line, so don't be in a hurry. My one near moment of wanting to stab something happened while trying to find baby clothes, size 24 months for my not yet year old nephew/godson. In the mall outside of the entry for JCPenny, there was a line that went on for miles, miles, waiting to get to see Santa. This in and of itself is not so terrible, it was that someone, unseen from my position was trying frantically to get some poor frightened child to smile for the picture being taken, by squeezing what sounded like a dog toy over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over resonating with an echo over the white noise din of the crowd and bouncing off of gleaming linoleum. It was horrible. That was supposed to help? I was only walking past, ready to stab my ears out, I can only imagine what it was like, standing in line for hours with not even the excitement of a roller coaster at the end, just kids scared out of their wits being plunked down on the lap of a total stranger and a loud squeaky toy.
The task of the weekend was to finish Christmas shopping. Dispite many good intentions for doing mostly home-maders this year, it has ended up being a store-bought holiday. Last night an ambitious project was started in the form of a blanket, but chances are really good that it will turn into Yet Another Scarf as time runs out.
For the most part, going into malls and shopping centers around the holidays is something I'm well prepped for. The lines, the agitated suburbanites, the downright crazy people, and the children, ah yes, the children. You know it's coming, so there's no need for getting all worked up about it, just go in, get it done, and get out. There WILL be a line, so don't be in a hurry. My one near moment of wanting to stab something happened while trying to find baby clothes, size 24 months for my not yet year old nephew/godson. In the mall outside of the entry for JCPenny, there was a line that went on for miles, miles, waiting to get to see Santa. This in and of itself is not so terrible, it was that someone, unseen from my position was trying frantically to get some poor frightened child to smile for the picture being taken, by squeezing what sounded like a dog toy over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over resonating with an echo over the white noise din of the crowd and bouncing off of gleaming linoleum. It was horrible. That was supposed to help? I was only walking past, ready to stab my ears out, I can only imagine what it was like, standing in line for hours with not even the excitement of a roller coaster at the end, just kids scared out of their wits being plunked down on the lap of a total stranger and a loud squeaky toy.
posted by 2ndaryHighway | 9:49 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home