Christmas Shopping

I miss shopping at Ames. Ames was a department store about five miles from our home. It was similar in style to a Target, but in my mind, it was somehow better. It had that "lived in" look. Ames was at one end of a plaza and a grocery store was at the other. Often, on Friday nights, we would stop either on our way to, or our way from, grocery shopping- with a side trip to the news stand that stood in between them. The local Ames store closed years ago when the entire chain went bankrupt. This happened despite a healthy subsidy provided by our family throughout those years. We shopped there all year long, but we shopped there a lot at Christmastime.

Not ours, but close.

I particularly miss Christmas shopping at Ames. I especially miss taking my kids there to pick out Christmas presents for their mom. This adventure usually took place at night, which for some reason, seemed to add to the excitement. We would all bundle up and pile into the freezing cold mini-van for the short, ten to fifteen minute drive. Along the way we would look at Christmas lights and listen to Christmas carols. When we arrived, we would head en masse into the brightly lit store and begin our search. Usually the kids would scour the toys first, studying each one, and dreaming about what they hoped they might get for Christmas. Eventually, we would wander over to the Jewelery and Women's Department.

Everything in those departments was scrutinized as well. Sometimes the perfect gift was found right away, but more often than not, it took a lot of searching to find just the right thing. Sometimes a large, sparkly broach would be selected. Sometimes it would be a necklace made of over-sized, brightly colored beads. Often the perfect gift would be a sweater- the more festive, the better. The best sweaters had scenes on them: dancing reindeer or Santas, Christmas trees with over-sized ornaments hanging from the branches and brightly wrapped presents underneath, fuzzy snowflakes of various sizes falling around a colorful village scene- each sweater reflected the joy of the holiday season in it's own subtle way.

Once everyone had picked out their gift, we would head to the front registers- the kids skipping and giggling as if they had just found some buried treasure and they were now struggling to keep it a secret- which in a way, I guess was true. From there, we would head back out to the freezing cold van to drive home- going "the scenic route" so we could take in more Christmas lights and Christmas music and talk about the perfect presents they had just picked out.

The best thing about the whole adventure was their excitement- not only in having found the perfect gift, but their excitement in wrapping their gifts, and putting those hidden treasures under the tree and then watching with pride as each of their presents were opened.

The whole adventure was a lot of fun- at least as much for me as it was for the kids. Probably more. Boy, I sure miss that store.