Last Minute Shoppers Mellow
and There is "Good Will Toward Men!"
On several occasions I have ranted a bit about the commercialism of Christmas which to me is a sacred and a blessed time of the year. I deliberately leave my shopping to the last moment to make sure that it is meaningful and related to the spirit of the times. Earlier this week I visited Saskatoon and showed you my concern with the long and unhappy faces I saw.
Friday from eleven until four Matthew and I patrolled the stores and malls of Regina and there was Christmas spirit pleasantness and a calm that was extremely
reassuring,
that the hearts of those we saw were warming and content with themselves and their feelings to each other. As we waited at a light on Saskatchewan Drive (aka Arcola Avenue) a small boy in a neighbouring car peered over the window sill and I gave him a friendly wave, a question to his mother and his frown vanished and a big grin filled his face as he returned my gesture with his own wave, awe yes Christmas.
Let me introduce you to Ben. But more precisely to Ben's tie. It was a gift from his son in Yellowknife. Ben is a sample guy in Cosco. Was pleased to have his picture taken and told us about his son and of course his great tie.
At the top of this page is a composite image of the line ups waiting to check out their cart loads at Cosco. We stood in line for many minutes, the girl in front of us is from Corning a small community West of Kipling, for years was the smallest school in the Broadview School Division but now is closed and this girl attends school in Kipling. A young woman explained to me how
she used the torteas she was purchasing as she used them to make roll up sandwiches. No one was grumbling or impatient many were chatting with each other and a sample
girl was handing
out gum drops to the people waiting in line.This lady was handing out samples of Pork Slovaki, the pork was great but the sauce, ... well it must be an acquired taste. Another location it was nachos with cheese and salsa, while we tried egg rolls by the freezers. As you can see shopping was light and unhurried.
At 3:40 and ice cream cone and a pop cleared up the sauce from the slovaki and a quick trip over to Zellers to finish the day off. The best picture of the shopping was of a clerk in Zellers, charming and witty but asked that you not see her picture. What a pity, great picture but she must have had her reasons not to want to be seen, perhaps we will get to enjoy her smile another day.
By 4:00 the stores were all but vacant and the sounds of laughter and greetings could be heard as we worked out way out to a parking lot and began our journey home.
"Peace on Earth, good will to men."
Timothy W. Shire