Christmas Shopping at the Dollar Store

Today we ended our Christmas shopping of the season with a trip to the Dollar Store. Jayce walked up and down the isles picking out the perfect gifts for Meemaw, Papa, Krysta, and Pete. We started this tradition in our family last year, but trips to the dollar store are not at all new to my family. I have many fond and now hysterical memories of yearly trips to the dollar store. The fond memories are those where mom and dad would give us $10.00 to spend on Christmas gifts for the family and we would meticulously walk down each and every isle looking for the perfect gift for grandma's and grandpa, aunts and uncles, Mom and Dad, and of course our siblings. We felt a sense of power in knowing we had the purchasing power to buy whatever we wanted. The hilarious memories are the fights that resulted also on a yearly basis. This began when on Christmas Eve we would beg mom and dad to let us open our presents to each other (the ones purchased at the dollar store). After begging and pleading and our parents knowing well in advance that fighting was soon to break out they agreed. What makes these memories hilarious to me is fantasizing what great gifts my siblings got me. For some reason in my ten year old brain I was convinced that both my brother and sister must have picked out this amazing gift that would be exactly what I wanted. Well, that never happened. It was always either a cheap porcelain cat or an out-of-date jewelry box with a missing hinge. We would get so mad at each other and argue and squabble about what we should have gotten like those beautiful plastic jewels under the counter or the really cool cassette tape in the bargain bin. This squabbling would last into the night when at last we lay our heads down too excited to sleep, waiting for the magical moment when Santa would leave us the really cool gifts. I hope that this tradition I have carried over into my family will bring my boys as many fond and funny memories for them as it has for me.
With Lots of Love :)
The O'Quinns