I have never in my whole entire life been subjected to such violence from people from my own gender, as at Christmas time at the mall.
It is truly something the universities should do a complete study on. The emotional level of selfishness is at maximum overdrive, over any other time of the year. And you all know how that movie turned out! The machines went nuts and took revenge on the owners! Although, after yesterday, I think maybe a touch of digital revenge might be in order
to straighten out a few of these crazed, (adults, ha!) people who have to have the latest, and the greatest, and pay for it for 2 or 3 years for their children, who usually are not in the least bit concerned about it.
They play with the box more than the toy! I mean buying a portable DVD player for a two year old is just too much! sighThe new video games that are out now. These things are outrageously priced, and they are playing the supply is low and demand is high thing. The same thing happened with the Cabbage Patch Dolls, and good ole Tickle Me Elmo. These parents are obessessed, possessed, ( I think this one womans head spun in a complete circle yesterday!)
and armed with a whole pocket full of credit cards that are new and untouched! They claw, they yell, they curse, they fist fight, they sit outside of stores for days in the cold and wait for Wendy's to take pity and provide them with french fries and frosties. Pitiful, simply pitiful!
I am not saying a person needs to take along pepper spray and a stun gun to Chistmas shop, but the idea has occured to me.
The day after Thanksgiving is possibly the worst day of the year to shop, if you are a quiet type person, like me. (
hehe) The stores open up at 5 am, and promise super duper sales for 3 hours of stupendous savings..... um humm.... they practically give you the stuff they had on their clearance racks to get you into their store. I am to the point that if I can't get it at Walmart, people will be getting an IOU,for one present, after the January white sales and the February Mall Walk sales. Sheesh... They might have to wait until the after Valentines day sales, and Presidents days sales, Columbus Day Sales, and then Easter sales, and then of course Memorial day sales, and that takes you right into Mothers Day
and then Fathers Day
and then Independence day in July. I think I will just give out computer generated cards on notebook paper with a little cash inside. Then again, stores don't like cash money much anymore, and to write a check, well they take it then they give it back to you after they electronically store all of your banking information in their computer system! 
In my house I try to take the kids, even though they are now 23 and 17 years of age to Toys R Us to play with the stuff on the shelves. I know it is a little bit nostalgic of me, but hey when you have a tradition, you have to keep it up, ya know!
But this year, I took a turn in the store by myself, looking for a gift for my 7 year old cousin, and the kids were so involved with playing with every single toy out of every single box on the shelf, I couldn't get to the shelf to take one home with me. I tried to be sweet and ask one of them if he could possible let me look at the toy he was busily trying to take apart to see how it worked. And he started yelling," MOM! Stranger! Danger! Stranger! Danger!."
I turned around thinking I would see a parent streaking across the store to save her child, ( maybe I could reason with her to make the kid give up the toy) and continued to stand there waiting for 10 minutes while the child in question continued his high pitch litany of "Stranger! Danger!".... No one ever came.....
The other kids, were oblivious to anything but, continuing to destroy all the merchandise they could reach, and I left the store empty handed except for the advertising circular they handed me at the door, with a pleasant Merry Christmas, come see us again! Not on your life could you get me back into that chaos. No way! No trip to Toys R Tornup, this year!
I had to park on the next block just to get to the mall.
They actually have guys in golf carts shuttling the old folks back and forth to the door of the mall, and their car. I suppose I am not old enough yet, even though I yelled, and threw little rocks that were on the pavement, at the guy on the golf cart, he just whizzed right on by!
There has got to be a discrimination law I could use with this one, but the lawyers won't take my case, I am sure. They would plead temporary Holiday Shopping at the Mall insanity. I would lose.
All in all I came home with bruises on my shins from the Stranger Danger kid, a scratch on my arm from trying to climb up one of the shelves to get something down.
( signs say to ask for help for things on the top shelves... they have no one who works at these stores at such times, as I have asked.... they are all on break... or have broken bones, getting stuff off the top shelves) I managed to snag a pair of jeans for Homer, a box of candy for Homer's Mom and a lot of circulars for after Christmas sales. 
Like I am going back there after Christmas and fight the people lined up for a city block to return the gifts they don't want or that just don't fit right. You can be sure anything on the rack after Christmas has been worn before. And not in the clean dressing rooms of the store either! ewww.....I looked into the bags when I got home, and wouldn't you know it, I could have gotten the same damn thing off the Walmart shelf half price.....hehe, Gretchen Wilson might have something there after all. I guess I am a redneck woman, well at Christmas time anyway!..... hehe
lockerridge