Journal of a Sabbatical

December 11, 1998

shopping with frankincense

The woman who owns Andover Gift Shop swears that frankincense is mood altering. I think I am beginning to agree with her. Despite the fact that I was bumping into people right and left and knocking things off shelves while trying to avoid bumping into people, I successfully completed shopping for small presents ($5.00 limit) for the walking buddies for tomorrow's holiday gathering. I finally figured out that if I bought a package of balsam scented mug mats for $12.95, I could get one for everybody cheaper than if I tried to buy individual ones. Individual mug mats were like $5.95 but the packaged ones were nicer and came 4 to a package. That way I could stick the little notepads I'd picked out for each person in with the mug mats and still not go over the limit. And I survived all this without panicking despite the hordes of people crammed into a very very small store. I did sneeze like crazy though. Frankincense may be mood altering but it's also allergenic.

I allocated the whole day for Christmas shopping, but didn't exactly map out strategy and tactics for the campaign. I cannot stand to enter malls during the shopping season, so it's small locally owned businesses for me. Between Andover Bookstore, Olde Port Bookshop, and Jabberwocky the books of Christmas are pretty well covered. I don't know why I felt like I had to drive up to Newburyport to Jabberwocky - yes, I do - they have a whole rack of those cheap Dover editions of poetry and I wanted John Greenleaf Whittier's Snowbound ever since I skipped the "reenactment" of the poem at the Whittier birthplace in Haverhill last weekend. So I thought I'd pick up a cheap Dover Whittier and get another book for Mom, since The Best Spiritual Writing of 1998 doesn't seem like enough to me. Well, they didn't have any Whittier, and I couldn't find anything I felt like giving to Mom.

I had lunch at The Tannery Cafe, next door to Jabberwocky, spilled lasagna on my white turtleneck, and revived enough to browse some more. Still nothing I wanted to give Mom. I wandered over to The Birdwatcher of Newburyport and picked up a couple of books off the bargain table to add to the huge piles I am building for the kids (a first guide to birds and a first guide to shells). It's far too nice out to be Christmas shopping. The sky is that dark blue that it only gets on clear winter days and I can be out and about in shirtsleeves with only a little chill. I've taken to deliberately under dressing for the cold lately. I guess I like to feel the cold. I decided to stop at the boat ramp on the way home to see if I could find any ducks. There were plenty of gulls and a few black ducks - and the ubiquitous Steve. He is now sure I have no place else to go! And nothing else to do! I told him about the slide show and described the guy who gave it. Steve couldn't place him even though he's around all the time.

The shopping project sort of fizzled out. I just couldn't stand NOT buying everything in sight for somebody or other. I started to get the feeling that if I just bought everybody the right gifts they would love me forever. The number of choices began to seem overwhelming. I kept wanting to get more stuff for the kids even though I have enough books for 3 Christmases already for them. Not a good mood to be in while in stores and in possession of a credit card.

Back at home, I wrapped the gifts for the walking buddies and did mountains of chores and still felt unproductive. Tis the season...