Cheryl Beckham

Today is December 1st, the beginning of the the last month of the year 2008. The first of the month always brings the task of paying the majority of the house hold monthly bills for me and what a bummer it is this last month of the year to see what little is left to use for buying the Christmas gifts that we find are so necessary to give each and every year.

I didn’t brave the Black Friday shopping frenzy, that isn’t something that I’m into at all. Just thinking about the whole horrible process involved in that event makes my stomach uneasy and gives me a head ache.

This year, now that I know how much I have to play with, most of my shopping will be done online. This is something that a good amount of people are doing and I intend to be one of the statistics for this year. No crowds, no parking issues, no rude sale associates, no lines, no freezing my buns off outside and sweating to death inside all the stores and no holiday music being drummed into my head that is being played in every store in the country.

I can’t believe that the owner of the restaurant and bar that I tend the bar at has, at the last minute decided to have their doors open and welcoming for the day of Thanksgiving. After finding that most of his employees don’t have immediate family members to celebrate the holiday with, he made his decision based on employee availability. He has been asked numerous times by the “regulars” if he would consider this possibility and he grabbed the bait and definitely ran with it. Just wish he had not waited until the last minute.

So the bad news is that I have to tend bar tomorrow. A bar and restaurant filled with all of the other “loners” in the county will certainly be an interesting shift, they better not be stingy with their wallets, due to their loneliness and depression that is known to hit people harder during the family oriented holiday season.

The good news is that we are promised to be paid overtime for the inconvenience and all of our efforts in making this as pleasant as we possibly can.

At the grocery store I had a difficult time deciding how much candy to buy for the kids who will be knocking on my door tonight. I finally decided to buy 4 big bags of assorted candies. They were awfully expensive for being little bite size and snack size candies, but I think I will have enough to give a handful of candy to at least 30 kids. Surely that will be enough candy for the night!

To be honest, I am hoping that I have lots of candy left over. I don’t mind sharing it with the trick or treaters, but I have a sweet tooth and it would be nice to have some sweets in the house for a few days.

It’s not Halloween yet but the stores are putting out Christmas toys and decorations already. I hate that. I think most people think the same way. Yet the retailers persist in putting the Christmas things out too early in the season.

That’s probably a good indication of why retail is losing their asses and have been in trouble for the past several years. They don’t listen to what the general public thinks or wants.

I like to shop at Sam’s Club because most of the items in the discount warehouse are a good price. But you can’t count on finding the size and color that you want. You can’t count on the same thing being there next time you go to get it. You can’t check out quickly with just a few items in the basket – there are no express lanes. And you can’t use a VISA card to pay for your purchases.

But I found a nice little daily calendar for under $10 that would be a great Christmas gift for my mother, so I bought it. So I have reluctantly but officially begun my Christmas shopping for this year.