Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories - December 8 Christmas Shopping

Today’s blog prompt is:Christmas Shopping: For many of us, the focus of the Christmas season isn’t on “things” but on family and friends. Still, we like to give presents – large and small – to those we love. Do you shop during Christmastime or do you shop much earlier in the year to get it out of the way? Have you seen a change in your shopping habits as you’ve gotten older? Do you shop online? Do you participate in Black Friday or Cyber Monday activities? What was Christmas shopping like for your family and ancestors? Tell us about how you do Christmas shopping and your memories of Christmases past.

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I tend to concentrate my shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  When I was younger, the stores were only open until 9pm on Monday and Thursday evenings and rarely, if ever, open on Sunday.  Shopping was usually done on a Saturday or right after work.

My shopping habits have changed over time.  My husband and I used to take the kids to the mall and out for lunch on the day after Thanksgiving. (Before Black Friday!)  The mall we went to had a special place for children to shop independently.  We would get almost all of out shopping done on that day.  My family drew names for Christmas so that somewhat limited the number of gifts to buy.

Several years ago my daughter and I did brave the cold and the crowds to do the midnight  Black Friday sales.  We only did it once!  In addition to encouraging over-spending, it just didn't seem worth the effort.  Now I tend to try to avoid shopping on weekends and shop during the week.  Each year I seem to do more shopping on the internet as it saves time and travel costs.  I especially like the free shipping.

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