Page 4 - Scene Magazine November 2023 47-11

As Scene By
BY FREDERICK (RICK) D
ERUITER, PUBLISHER
The holiday season is upon us, and, well the holiday season has a lot of traditions, which includes... SHOPPING. I don’t know if the tradition I started with my kids was of any real benefit to them – but it seemed like a good idea. So once both of my children were old enough – the three
My daughter and I continued “Mom shopping” together when my son moved away. And the tradition ended when she moved away. We do love retelling our favorite stories from our shopping trips together. The story at the beginning is one of my favorites.
I found a sweater that was “close” to what she described, and found it quickly enough to spot her turning down an aisle near the back of the store. I couldn’t get
her attention, so I walked to the aisle I had assumed she turned down, and I went into that aisle and started talking to her about, and pointing to, where I found a sweater.
I was only seeing her with my peripheral vision while motioning towards the front of the store – then I turned to her in full view to get a reaction. It wasn’t my wife. The slightly stunned woman wearing the same coat as my wife with similar hair color as my wife – gave a hardy laugh when I said... “You’re not my wife!”
of us did “Mom’s” Christmas shopping together. My wife would give us a garbled idea of a Christmas list, and her “pre-ap- proved” amount we could put on the credit card. We would go to a restaurant of the kid’s choice for lunch, then go home and wrap the gifts together. It was my thinking that knowing how to wrap gifts was as im- portant as taking the time to shop for them. So the kids had to wrap at least a couple gifts. And yes, until they reached their teenage years, the wrapping looked liked
Shopping for my wife now is entirely on me. I like it – well, except for femi- nine items and the traffic. I do still enjoy putting in the time to wrap her gifts – cuz I do it in my workshop! My wife has
been quick to realize this... so I end up wrapping a lot of gifts... cuz now we got grand kids! Terri (my wife) pretty much loathes Christmas shopping. I’m more of a “buyer” than a shopper. Shopping for me is endurable, as long as I don’t leave
a store empty-handed. And since I don’t loathe Christmas shopping, Terri likes it if I help her shop.
Terri had turned down the next aisle without me noticing, and asked over the rack of clothes... “Who is that?” After I explained what had happened – the gal laughed again and added... “I can’t wait to tell my husband when I get home!”
a five-year-old did it. But I’ll be honest... those kid-wrapped gifts seemed cozier for some reason.
So Terri and I were Christmas shop- ping together last year at a local retail establishment with the intention of buying
Guess what? We didn’t buy a sweater.
4 SCENE 4811 I CELEBRATIONS
“MOM! Guess what Mom? We didn’t buy you a sweater today!” That little gem of an announcement came from my daughter who was around five at the time.
As I mentioned... I can’t be sure how valuable the tradition was to the kids. My daughter has made gift-giving an artform. Her presentation for a gift makes me feel guilty for opening it. My son on the other hand makes gift-giving a last minute deci- sion, and hands me a gift in a bag.
a sweater. It might have been for my daughter, but I can’t be sure. We were at the end of our list of intended gifts, and were frankly hoping to find a sweater quickly and go home. So we split up – you know – “divide and conquer.” Terri went towards the back of the store, and I stayed up front.
Let’s Go Christmas Shopping!
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elusive DeRuiter. Warn your friends. Warn your neighbors. He’s in there somewhere, waiting for the one lucky detective to find him!
LAST MONTH... Page... 39 LAST MONTH’S WINNER... JANET WEST
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