Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas!

“Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single, lovely action.”
- James Russell Lowell (1816 - 1891)

I have felt there is one spirit of love which runs through our lives and touches us, bringing us together with those we love, and making sure that we are not separated from those we have lost. I miss my parents terribly this time of year, and I hold on to the memories of Christmas past, knowing that Momma and Daddy, and my adoring grandparents are not far from us all, especially in this season when love abounds.

This spirit of love is like a river, sometimes strong, and sometimes full of rocks and other obstacles, as I was reminded last weekend at our home. Rarely is there quiet time with the phone ringing, the dog barking, and my twins clamoring. I told myself I would never buy anything to add to the chaos, and then the Wii was created and the spirit of Christmas was in the air.

After searching every Target, Wal-Mart and gaming store in this part of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia- to no avail, I discovered the Wii Fit shipment arrives at our Target store on Saturday nights. I had planned to arrive at Target upon their opening on Sunday, but thankfully, my husband Chris volunteered and insisted. He is, after all, one of those morning people.

Chris arrived at Target at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, half an hour before the store opened. He parked amongst numerous idling cars in the lot, and upon exiting his Hyundai, he was alerted by the crescendo of mini-van doors slamming that he had better make haste before women of all shapes and sizes pummeled him on their mad dash to the entrance. Chris made it there fourth, and then waited a half-hour in the sub-freezing temperatures. Had I been there, I would have begun a diatribe to the group on the spirit of Christmas and my disgust at the human race. But not Chris. He was silently focused on his win. By 8:00 a.m., there was a line of 10 people on the top floor entrance (where electronics is located), and longer lines had formed on the other floors.

As the Target employee opened the doors, he pointed at each individual and counted, "One, two, three, four, five, six - all the rest of you have to come back next week- we only got six in the shipment," without asking anyone why they were there.

One of Chris’ competitors yelled, "I am buying TWO!," and the Target referee said, "You get ONE this week, and you come back NEXT week for the other one!"

One woman commented, “I don't know if I want one until I see it," and three people screamed, "I GET HERS!"

"Only ONE to a customer!" rang out in the chilled air as the doors were flung open and the race was on!

Everyone in line ran as fast as they could to break ahead of the others. A woman untrained in bargain basement sales ran for a cart, but she soon realized it was dead weight and shoved it down a gift wrapping aisle. Two competitors ran down another aisle to grab the Wii Fit from the display. They will have to return next Sunday.

Chris, being a man of logic, figured it would lack sound reasoning for Target to lock the Wii Fits in the display, so he made a beeline to the cash register in the electronics department. He ran as fast as I have never seen him run before. He may have jumped a cart and even slid, I don't know. Having been fourth in line, he had now jockeyed for the prime #3 position when he arrived at the register and found six Wii Fits lined up neatly for the top six seeded competitors.

As he was checking out, the other competitors were arriving from the lower floors. Those who had mistakenly waited for the elevator, those who rode the escalator, and those who ran up the "down" escalator to pass the others. The loud speaker was blaring, "WE HAVE NO MORE Wii FITS!.... WE HAVE NO MORE Wii FITS!... THERE IS NO REASON TO RUN ...WE HAVE NO MORE Wii FITS!"

Chris made it home before I even knew he had left. His hair was a bit messy, but he had a smile on his face and a Target bag in hand.

Some women love their husbands because of the roses they send, the romantic dinners, or the diamond anniversary bands. My husband beat the president of the PTA in a race in Target, just to bring home a Wii Fit for our children’s Christmas present. It doesn't get any better than that! May you all experience the true spirit of love this Christmas, and a holiday filled with all the love, hope, family, and chaos we’ll long to remember when we can no longer jump the aisles.

Merry Christmas,
Laine

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I howled as I read this, then had to read it aloud to my daughter. It sounded very much like some misguided, demented Christmas tale, the likes of that movie A Christmas Story. The one with the Red Rider Bebe Gun. You images were so vivid that I cringed just reading them. They brought back memories of trips to Filene's Basement in Boston at Christmas time with my mom and watching women rip items out each other's hands in an attempt to one-up each other. Glad to see that aggressive shopping is not just a Northern trait. I look forward to more of your posts. Enjoy the Wii!