After Christmas Shopping

Back to the Blogosphere after a nice, restful holiday break. We had a wonderful Christmas. Wherever/However you spent this year’s Christmas, I hope it was wonderful for you.

One of the things I did over the break - though less this year than in past years - was some after Christmas shopping. A few things I noticed:

• UT Vols sweatshirts are somewhat overpriced no matter where you look in this state.
• Wal-Mart stocked way up on holiday paper, bows, tags, etc. I wonder where they store all of that during the rest of the year?
• Traffic on the roads seemed very heavy this year.

On one of my shopping excursions, I wound up going by a Hallmark store. I was looking for some cards for next year and I picked up the 2012 NFL ornament - which bears the likeness of Baltimore Ravens OT Michael Oher.

While I was waiting to pay, I overheard one couple discussing their purchases. They were just a little more serious about their visit to a Hallmark store than the rest of it.

In listening to a bit of the conversation between them and the cashier, I learned they are from out of state. They travel the region. Their goal was to collect every Hallmark ornament in the 2012 collection. They were just two short of reaching their goal!

I guess when you start to think about it, there is a hobby for almost everyone. The guy across the street spends a lot of time working in his yard; my friend Ed is a ham radio enthusiast. I used to work with a guy who loved folk dancing. I know people at church who are into cars, into sewing, into singing.

This couple, well, they collect Christmas ornaments.

I didn’t ask, but I rather imagine this isn’t a first for them. I imagined this vast warehouse - or at least a large storage room at their house - with boxes and boxes of Hallmark ornaments…the ones from this year’s quest as well as the Ghosts of Christmas Past.

I’m not sure what you’d do with such a collection. It sounds like most of the fun, though, was the pursuit. They told the cashier about some of the other Hallmark stores they had visited. When they finished paying, and when I had done the same, I followed them out into the parking lot and I saw bag after Hallmark bag in their trunk. There were dozens of them.

And the couple excitedly chattered away about their next stop and the quest for the final two ornaments in their 2012 collection. It was clear they were enjoying the travel and enjoying each other’s company as much as anything.

I guess it really is true that in this great big world, there’s something for everyone!

JG

(Source: hallmark.com)

Originally posted 12/29/2012