Daily Archives: November 23, 2008

Yesterday, I braved Saturday shopping traffic to buy groceries for Thanksgiving.  Tight on funds to buy stuff for Thanksgiving and regular groceries to get us through to the holiday, I decided to clip a few coupons and do some “multiple location” shopping to try to save money.  This consisted of a trip to Wal-Mart and a trip to Shop-N-Save.

Although the coupons saved me 15 dollars, they almost weren’t worth it.  At both places, the cashier forgot to ring my coupons and had to go get Gozar the Key Keeper to unlock their drawer, push some buttons, and give me cash back.

I’d also like to point out that our Wal-Mart is the worst ever.  It isn’t a Super Center, and on any given day of the week (not just at holidays) going inside is total chaos so I wasn’t expecting the Saturday before Thanksgiving to be any different.  I go inside and there are no carts, and there are about 20 people waiting on carts.  Rather than join them, I go back outside and retrieve one cart for myself.  Going back inside the entrance, at least 5 people jump on me asking if I’m done with the cart.  While shopping, 2 people asked me where I got the cart.  Muliple times I had to wait because people were right in front of what I needed, talking on their cell phones, and trying to make a decision, although I swore they were just standing in front of what I needed to bug the hell out of me.  It worked!

Next, I was off to the grocery store.  I didn’t have to bring in my own cart, and at least the aisles are bigger so it’s easier to reach around people and get what you need.  I loaded the cart with all the traditional Thanksgiving food, plus food J and I like to eat for lunches on work days.  At check out, the cashier tried to talk me out of my Butterball turkey because the other two brands were on sale.  I thanked her but said no thanks, and it turned out that when she rang up my turkey it was on sale too anyway.  And like I said, she forgot to ring my coupons.  But the cash I got back was enough to buy us Chinese for dinner last night.  Yeah, I know…all that time and money spent buying food and we order Chinese for dinner.

The older I get, the more I like Thanksgiving.  Now that I don’t work in retail anymore and don’t have to put up with holiday shoppers, my company gives us Thursday and Friday off for the holiday, so it’s a nice four day weekend.  Unfortunately, if Christmas falls in the middle of the week, my company only gives us Christmas Day off.  With family out of town, I usually have to save vacation time to use if I want to go home for Christmas.  And I usually do go home to Tennessee since Thanksgiving has become mine and J’s holiday together.

So despite the coupon clipping, the cart snatching, the people in my way, the traffic, grocery shopping, the slow cashiers, the lack of money, and lack of time, I will find time to enjoy my butterball turkey and J’s green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread stuffing, pumpkin pie, spiced wine, and maybe some egg nog or boiled custard.  No matter what, I’m thankful to have the time off to enjoy such things.  I’m thankful to have a job to at least afford to buy the food.  I’m thankful for our lil house we have to come home to and our big kitchen to cook in.  I’m thankful for J who is the only reason it is a home.  When I can’t be close to the family back home in Tennessee, J is my family right here and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So before the Christmas rush and scurrying off the rest of the year, it’s nice to stop and be thankful for life, for love, for home, for happiness, for family, and for the opportunity to spend it with someone I care so much about.