Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Last Minute Shopping

A lot of people did their last minute Christmas shopping at the mall. I have managed to avoid the mall entirely this year. My last minute shopping involved two stops, the first being here.



It was a very cold, drizzly morning and the visitor's parking garage is a good block and a half hike. It was necessary to use extra care climbing the slick granite steps. But it was worth the chill and the drizzle. I love walking up to the front door and then stepping inside and seeing again the grandeur that is the Texas Capitol.

The last time I was at the Capitol, the crowds were thick. This morning it was quiet. I decided the time to visit the Capitol would be the week of Christmas. Today I was focused on my mission to get the latest in the series of Capitol Christmas ornaments. I spent a good half hour poking around the Capitol Gift Shop and managed to talk myself out of a lot of things I didn't need. While I was there, a steady stream of folks came in for the ornament. They are popular.



I believe this is number 13 in the series and I have all but the first two. If anybody out there has the first two and doesn't want them, I would love to make a deal for them. When they hit EBAY, the bidding is fierce and I don't have much hope of ever coming out the winner.

I had intended to go from there across the plaza to the archives and do some quick genealogy lookups, but discovered the building was closed this week in their ongoing renovation activities. So I could have poked around the Capitol after all, but no way was I going to back track in the cold and rain.

I finished my second shopping errand, had lunch with little brother and visited with his cat Frida, then headed to the biggest Half Price Books that I seldom get to visit any more since the office moved. Surprise, surprise, the crowds were as thick there as they would have been at the mall. I didn't stay long. Crowds are not my thing this year.

There's a different feel in the air this year. Maybe it's the economy. Maybe it's me and everybody else is in their usual Christmas frenzy. I just know that I don't want to shop. I've enjoyed poking around in the little towns. I really enjoyed poking around in the Capitol gift shop.
If if were up to me, all the big box stores would be out of business. They've got nothing I want.

LSW

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Anonymous said...

Makes you want to buy a couple extra and put the extras on EBAY for yourself.

LSW said...

Nah. Except for the first two, they are still producing and selling all the others. I don't know why they don't go back and reissue those. Nowadays #1 goes for $75-100 every time it shows up. I've not seen #2 in a long time.