Not a shop-a-holic

While getting to know me in the early years, The Good Doctor was pleased to find out that I am not a shopper, especially not the spend-the-day at the mall type. Not only does it save him money, but it keeps me home. I have never gone shopping on Black Friday although I am known to wake up early the day after Christmas to shop for the following year's Christmas gifts. We are fortunate enough to have my mother, a volunteer for a local thrift shop, who can shop for us. Besides the already low, low prices, she gets a discount. All I have to do is let her know what sizes the children are in, and exactly what we are in need of. There are also some wonderful folks who pass along their hand-me-downs. Since my children tend to be on the smaller side (our former doctor, who saw four generations of my family, would always say, "Well, what do you expect?"), it's now to the point where we even get hand-me-downs from friends of my older boys. They THINK they are passing along clothes for the 11-year olds but instead my teens go through the bag first. We're not proud folks. And if I really have to go shopping for an item for myself or another person in the clan, I will still skip the mall or department store in hopes of finding the needed item at the Salvation Army. Only after exhausting all of these possibilities will I set food in any type of "real" store that sells unused clothing.

But I have to admit that I do have one shopping weakness, and that is the twice-yearly Mothers of Multiples sale. I first learned about the Mothers of Multiples sales from a friend who had twins. Members of the organization get to shop first, usually the night before. On the public shopping day, the crowds line up before opening. Yes, even I have been one of the crazy ones. For the past 4 or 5 years, Mariana has joined me. She's a great help. I give her a list of items for which we are in need, and then we divide and conquer. She typically heads to the shoes first, I to the youngest child's size as the younger sizes tend to be picked over first. No one stands in line for 1/2 hour or more to be the first in the doors in search of the perfect boys' size 10 clothing!

I think our enjoyment of this event has more to do with the one-on-one time than with the actual shopping. There's a certain amount of bonding that occurs between mother and daughter when standing outside in the cold weather, waiting to shop for used clothing for your younger children or siblings. We each bring our travel mug of hot chai. I wear weather-appropriate clothing. She opts for more fashionable, yet chillier, wear. We talk. We laugh at others (Yes, some of the women farther up in the line do bring lawn chairs. I've not validated this but I've been told some people stand in this line for 6 hours or more just to get first in line). And we laugh at ourselves.

As the children get older, we will have less-and-less success at this practice. But for this year, 41 items later, success indeed!