Countdown to Christmas 2025… Day 7

You all know I love shopping, right? 

I probably love working retail so much because it’s like shopping but getting paid for it at the same time. 

You might think I got this from my mom, but you would be wrong. 

My mother detested shopping of almost all kinds, but particularly for clothing. She did love to sew and thus a lot of my school and play clothes were stitched on her Singer machine. She made her skirts and culottes that were her standard daily attire. 

But it was my father who would carefully select the pretty suits and dresses she wore and it was my father who would take his daughters for their prom dresses, first day of school frocks and our seasonal Sunday dresses. 

We always got a new one for Easter and Christmas. These were very special dresses with all the fancy netting and sashes which he would tie impeccably into a perfect bow the Sundays we wore them. 

These dresses had to have equally fancy socks or tights and shoes that shined with patent leather loveliness. He made sure we had the whole outfit before we headed home. 

I still have the costume jewelry pin he purchased one year as stood at the counter to pay. A Santa sled with little gems sparkling. He said we would put it on the lapel of my winter coat and it is a treasure from those days. 

Yesterday our Rachel let me give back to this memory. 

I don’t know what her plans were for between games, but she let me edit them and we took Caroline shopping for her Christmas program outfit. 

Mom and daughter entered the dressing room with an armload of possibilities and Lola ran the rehanging of the ones that were still being considered and feeding the rejects back to the helpful attendant. 

Oh! I do love good customer service!

I got to review each dress as a yay or a nay. 

We eventually found the perfect one for comfort, style and color and headed on to find the shoes, tights and a necklace that would pull the whole thing together. 

It was a multilayered event for me. 

I felt my dad’s approval as we shopped and thought how he would have loved to have led that charge. I loved seeing Caroline in all the different styles and her reactions to them. I loved the whole process of sharing it with our daughter and granddaughter. 

And I was grateful for the gift of time Russ gave us because he would have loved to be a part of it, too. 

I married a shopper. 

Russ picks out things for all of us frequently. 

He checks the racks and ponders what would look good on each of us and how it would suit our tastes and then he has it gift wrapped. Even if it’s just an ordinary day in the middle of the year for no particular reason except he wanted us to have something. 

So the shopping genes run strong and it was a delight to see our little Caroline carefully selecting all the pieces of her special holiday ensemble.  

I will be celebrating the success of it all by digging in the back of my dresser drawer today and pulling out that little sled to pin to my coat for church. Even though some of the sparkly gems have gone missing, this little bobble is still a holiday favorite.

These little parts of Christmas past and present blending bring all manner of thoughts and emotions. Tis the season, to be sure. 

Have a blessed Sunday. 

And by the way, I know you are looking festive and good…I can just feel it.