Wrappers’ delight

This past weekend was a momentous occasion that only happens one time a year. Gulley and Big Mama’s Christmas Shopping Weekend complete with The Wrapping Par-tay (it must be pronounced just like the women on the Walmart commercial say it). And yes, it is capitalized because it is an event. For the last sixteen years, Gulley and I designate one weekend in December for an exclusive girls’ weekend where we complete all of our Christmas shopping and present wrapping.

Usually we have the Christmas Shopping Weekend the first weekend of December, but since I had to be out of town because of my work at the bank, we had to find another weekend.

And really, I’m not bitter about the bank ruining our weekend at all.

So, at noon on Friday we headed out. Our first stop was at a local Mexican restaurant so that we could find shopping sustenance in the form of chips and queso. From there, we headed to our local outdoor shopping center because it was a lovely 75 degrees outside, just like in all the Christmas movies.

We shopped all day and headed back to my house with a car full of packages. Being giddy with our freedom, we decided that we should go see a movie. I looked and realized that I had two $10.00 gift certificates to the movies, then Gulley realized that she also had $20.00 worth of gift certificates to the movies. I wondered aloud if they applied to just tickets or the concession stand also, so I turned them over and read that they applied to tickets AND concession items. Well, y’all would have thought we had just won the lottery.

We headed to the theater, bought our tickets and still had over $20.00 in free movie money. So, we got in the concession line and debated between the small and large popcorn. We decided on two small diet Cokes (a bargain at $3.75 a piece, certainly no price gouging there) and a large popcorn because Gulley actually said, “I came to party this weekend. I even brought my Zantac.”

Yes, we’re getting old.

The movie of choice was The Holiday and I highly recommend it. We loved it, but be warned that it is a total girl movie. Do not make your husband see this movie unless he is a very sensitive type of guy. I know that P would have mocked the entire movie, which is why we never see movies together unless it’s something of real cinematic quality and importance like Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

After the movie we went to an Italian restaurant and had some calamari and a glass of wine. We stayed out until after 10:30 p.m. Thank goodness for Zantac.

On Saturday (after sleeping in until a delightful 9:30) we shopped, and shopped, and shopped some more. We also analyzed every topic from disciplining our kids, to the best fashionable shoe for a mama to wear to the park, to Britney Spears showing her cootie cat to all the world.

We finished our day with a trip to the grocery store and loaded up on sufficient amounts of snack food for our wrapping par-tay. Let’s just say that we erred heavily on the side of carbs and processed sugars. In years past, we have been known to drink a little too much wine which results in the wrapping of the presents getting sloppier and sloppier. There have definitely been years where y’all could look under my tree and see the downward spiral of present wrapping quality.

This year, however, we were task oriented and focused. We started wrapping at 8:00 p.m. and didn’t wrap the last present until 1:30 a.m. Fortunately for us, we had The Devil Wears Prada on DVD and Justin Timberlake on Saturday Night Live to help us. I can say that if I had missed JT dressed as a can of soup and singing “Soup, there it is”, it would have been one of the disappointments of my life. I’m laughing just thinking about it.

In all seriousness, I treasure these shopping weekends and we look forward to it all year. Now that we have kids, it’s even more special to have this time together with no real responsibility. It’s one of my favorite Christmas traditions and one of the best parts is that now my tree has a plethora of lovely, wrapped presents under it.

When Caroline got home yesterday, she ran to the tree and said “OH Mama, just look at all these beautiful presents!” Then we spent the rest of the afternoon performing this dialogue

Mama, can I open a present?
No, not until Christmas.
Please, can I open one?
No, not until Christmas
When will it be Christmas?
8 more days.
Mama, can I open a present?

Not right now, Mama has to go take a Zantac.