An Indulgence for Free

Yesterday little brother, sis-in-law and I went downtown for a very nice meal at Baxter's and then strolled up and down the Main Street shopping district. I discovered that several new gift stores have opened up since I used to prowl downtown. One is particularly nice and carries some really swank items. Their small upstairs room was devoted to Christmas and I fell in love with an unusual Nativity set.

I have a collection of Nativity sets that did not get brought out of storage this year, since I declared a general moratorium on Christmas decorating this go round. I just didn't have the energy to cope with both the set up and the putting away. However, in years to come, I plan to install a Christmas tree and a Nativity set in every room of the house. I probably have enough Nativity sets that I could put two in every room.

With that in mind, I took a look at the price tag, talked myself out of it, and left empty-handed. Well, not quite. I bought two Christmas ornaments, since they were buy one and get one free, and a salt and pepper shaker set.

Overnight I had the conviction that I should have snatched it up. I got on the Internet and did some searches and found it at a much higher price and discovered that the set had been discontinued. I called this morning and they still had it, so I had them place it on hold and hustled down to take possession.

About the same time, I realized that I had an unused $100 gift card sitting in my purse and I figured that would cover the base set, I would only be out the price of the accessory sets, and that would make the whole expense a little easier to swallow.

Imagine my surprise. Instead of selling the Nativity in 3 groupings, like I had found on the Internet, this store was selling the entire set for the Internet price of the base set. Plus, their buy one get one free applied to anything Christmas related in the store, so I chose a little decorative Christmas tree that had a nice stuffed bear climbing it as my freebie. Very appropriate for those of us who live in Bastrop and support the Bastrop Bears.

So instead of the good deal I was expecting to get via my forgotten gift card, I got a fantastic deal and spent not a dollar of my own money and still have a small balance on the gift card. That's what I call good shopping.

Now some folks might think this little Nativity is sacrilegious, but given my love for animals, it's right down my alley.

Joseph is a donkey (or maybe a mule). Mary is a horse. The baby in the manger is a yellow cat. The three wise men are a cow with a full can of milk, a goose with a basket of eggs, and a rooster with a supply of corn. The shepherd is a sheep, the camel is a hump-backed pig, and the drummer boy is another cow. The two angels are dogs and the backdrop is a stack of hay bales.

I love it.

LSW