'Twas the Saturday before Christmas

This shouldn't take long, I told myself as I wheeled into the department store parking lot.

Just pick up a couple of things, get them wrapped and I'm home.

Ha!

What was I thinking?

It was the Saturday before Christmas.

The store wasn't crowded, but the lines? Yikes.

I picked out what I needed, got on one line and paid up.

Took maybe 15 minutes.

Then I got on the line for gift wrapping.

Oooooh, boy.

Know how you get in line at the grocery store and sometimes the person in front of you notices you've got one item and they let you go ahead of them?

Didn't happen Saturday.

There were folks ahead of me who must've done ALL their gift shopping that day and were getting every last box wrapped.

In different color wrapping paper and different ribbons, too.

Nearly an hour passed by the time my turn came.

The woman smiled just as she had for every customer before me, wrapped my gifts and then asked sweetly if there was anything else?

Merry Christmas, I told her.

Then I got out of that store as fast as I could.