I suffer from an addiction. Fortunately, it doesn?t affect my lungs or leave me vulnerable to hepatitis. Nor does it require a visit to the sex experts at Johns Hopkins Hospital. However, like most addictions, it causes me some embarrassment, as I view it as a sign of weakness in my character.
I?m addicted to shopping.
I have, however, discovered a temporary cure. It?s known as the holiday shopping season.
For most months of the year, I happily visit malls and other stores in the Baltimore area. I like to buy, not just for myself, but for friends and family too. Then the holidays roll around, and something happens. Everything that seemed so appealing before November starts to look like dreck. I abandon my eternal quest for the perfect lipstick. I shun all shoe stores at Towson Town Center. Catalogues in my mailbox seem like so much wasted paper, and I instantly delete e-mails offering discounts and free shipping.
What causes this transformation? Two things.
First: too much merchandise. A cashmere sweater is a beautiful thing until you see about 200 of them hanging on a rack. Then they become downright common.
The second problem? Obligation. A requirement to buy gifts for so many people just sucks all the joy out of spending.
I do enjoy buying presents for our grandchildren. I can?t wait to see their little faces when they start tearing off the giftwrap. But the rest of it is just awful. First, I have to find parking, then wait in long lines with other obligated people to buy what will probably be the wrong item, color or size. Then I doom my family members and friends to the post-holiday shopping crush with all those other people returning the ugly stuff they got from their family and friends.
Elvis sang, “Why can?t every day be like Christmas?” I want to know why Christmas can?t be like every other day. You know, the days when shopping is fun. The ones where I shop because I love it and delight in sneaking shopping bags into the house before my husband gets home.
It may be eleven days till Christmas. But in my book, it?s just 65 days till March, when stores will be stocking up on spring merchandise, obligations are overand shopping will be great again.
That is, until summer, when I have to buy a new bathing suit.
Deborah Stone spent 15 years as a reporter and anchor at WJZ-TV and is currently a freelance writer. She is a 22-year resident of the Baltimore area. Her dog, Elton, allows her and her husband to share his home in Baltimore County. Her column runs every other Thursday. E-mail her at [email protected].
