Guest post written by my buddy Keith Kramer
Every year Cheryl and I take a full day to go Christmas shopping together. We plan the trip over the phone, about a week before we meet. It’s a standing ritual to make sure that sometime during this phone call we remind each other to set our home security alarms before we leave our houses, always remembering the year I forgot to do that, and had to leave the mall to go back home and adt security home alarm.
We meet at a designated shop at the mall at 9:30 AM, and begin the shopping day separating from each other for about a half hour so we can buy each other something special that we exchange at lunch time at our favorite restaurant. We usually take along a gift bag and tissue paper so we can make the exchange festive without a lot of fuss. We only see each other rarely, and it’s so nice to have the opportunity to see the smiles on each other’s faces at this Christmas shopping luncheon.
Except for that lunch break, we’re serious shoppers until we’re broke or too exhausted to take another step, whichever comes first. It’s an occasion that has become a tradition for the two of us that we look forward to every Christmas season.