I went shopping today.
I didn't have to go to the store today. I could have made it until the day after Christmas just fine. I had food and drink enough, but I was low on canned cat food. So this afternoon, I went down to the supermarket for not just cat food, but to create a new holiday tradition.
I'm realizing that, here in the 21st century, traditions can be generated and extinguished at a fairly quick rate. Why, look at the new holiday tradition of watching "The Interview" on Christmas Day to celebrate free speech and Sony's despicable marketing practices.
In our family as kids, we had a tradition of dad making clam chowder on Christmas Eve. Then we opened presents afterwards. But even this tradition was something that emerged sometime in the 1970s. We had an angel on the top of our tree then. Now I have a star (when I actually put up a tree).
So I decided I would generate my own holiday tradition this year by getting some thin-sliced roast beef and making French dip sandwiches. After all, they were invented just a couple of miles from here at Philipe's in downtown Los Angeles. It made sense that I could take this tradition with me back to the Midwest for next year's Christmas.
When I got to the supermarket, there was not a parking space to be had, even with Steve's handicapped placard at my disposal. After about five minutes, I did get an open space. It was not quite at the far end of the parking lot, but I didn't care. I got my bags out of the trunk and headed into the store. There were only a few shopping carts left outside, but I was lucky enough to get one of them.
So I went inside with my cart and was confronted by the hundreds of other shoppers who had stopped in to pick up a few things. Here and there you could see those who had left all their shopping until Christmas Eve, not only filling their carts with food, but also finding just the perfect gift at the very last minute.
The store had overstocked items they anticipated would be in demand, so the narrow aisles were blocked with bags of flour and sugar, and other staples they had simply piled onto the floor. Add these to the displays that normally block the aisles, and a third of them were simply impassable.
So I picked up the roast beef, the rolls, the au jus mix, the cat food, some Christmas cookies and half & half, which I would run out of Christmas Day after my first cup of coffee. And some danish to go with that coffee.
It was rather dismal. People were either ignoring each other or giving nasty sidelong glances to those folks who were standing, transfixed, blocking the aisles for other shoppers. I gave people smiles and did my best to be polite and make room for other shoppers. Not once did I hear anyone say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays." It was rather dismal in a frenetic sort of way.
The checkout lines were the same way: people jockeying for position, trying to find the shortest line (which, at this point, was academic). Got back home and lugged the bags in, put groceries away and sat down to ease into Christmas Eve. Planned viewing tonight is "Scrooged" with Bill Murray. I also have a couple versions of "A Christmas Carol" sitting on the DVR so I can speed through the commercials. And "The Wizard of Oz" is on Blu-Ray disc, so my viewing alternatives are solid.
Here's hoping your new year will be an amazing one. I'm looking forward to mine, I know.
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