i'm a consumer whore

adam and i have a tradition the weekend before finals, the christmas-shopping-spree-weekend-in-albuquerque tradition. pretty self explainitory. i usually get most of my christmas shopping done during this time, but i like to concentrate on my friends at school first, since i won't be seeing them again until january and it's my last chance.

this year the shopping spree didn't start out so great. it didn't help that we both had papers to finish and my computer's trippin', so i was stressed out before we even left. we went to the christian bookstore, target, and old navy, and i was just buying random stuff! i didn't even know who i was going to give these things too. i was very, very frustrated.

there's something you have to understand about me. to me, giving people presents is a very serious thing. if i don't put a lot of thought (and usually, a lot of money) into a present, i feel like a lousy friend or a deadbeat sister. i hate giving people lame generic presents. it makes me feel like such a loser. i think i get that from my dad... he goes crazy at christmas.

so there i was, with over a hundred dollars worth of crap, and i still hadn't purchased very many presents that i was truely happy with. this year my family is shopping for my cousins in kentucky, and i was having a lot of trouble finding something cool for them! i love carmelita so much, and i couldn't find something good enough for her! and scott? alicia? my grandfather?forget it.

i was about to have a nervous breakdown. no kidding, i was so stressed out. then adam suggested we go to the world market, where they have a lot of cool stuff. okay.

it turned out to save the day. i found so many things for my friends and my family, it was awesome. i got alicia a ten-pack of beers from around the world and "monty python's holy grail ale". she'll love it. i got scott gummy band-aids and fudge mix, because i'm part of the fictional "society to teach scott cason how to cook." perfect. i got rachel some sexy candles and cow soap for her bridal shower tomorrow. i got carmen a pretty expensive, beautiful yoga mat with an embrodiered bag. i think she'll really like it. she's into yoga. i even found things for my granddad, who is impossible to shop for.

i spent over $170 in that store, which was a little more than i'd spent in the other three stores combined. adam's a little broke right now, and i think he thought i was crazy to spend so much. but i was so relieved! i exclaimed happily to adam and the cashier that i was no longer a bad person because i had spent copious amounts of money on the people i love. on the way home, i couldn't stop telling adam how i felt so much better. i kept thinking happily about all the costly merchanidise in the trunk and never once doubted that i did the right thing.

why is that? i don't feel good about myself until i've bought everyone i know at least three presents or spent at least twenty dollars, usually both. it occurs to me that that's not normal. one thing i've learned in the last couple years is that not everyone buys presents for all the people they know. i've been surprized to find out that some of my friends only buy their siblings one gift. that's unheard of to me. today i bought my little brother three presents, and i'm still not done.

well, consumer america should be very happy with me, one of their own daughters, who does her duty by spending her hard-earned dollars on material goods. if someone's been brainwashing me, josie and the pussycats-style, to buy things for my friends and family, i swallowed that one hook, line, and sinker.

i'm not sorry. i love them.