It was afterall, Christmas Eve

No where on my employment r�sum� does it say that I am sane.

I have been known to do some crazy things in my life: certifiably crazy things.

Like, play golf in the snow, play golf in the rain or play basketball with high school kids. (Well, not anymore)

Been there, done that.

Monday was a first. I went shopping on Christmas Eve.

What was I thinking? Now that was just crazy!

The first thing I discovered is that there are hundreds of crazy, certifiably insane people like me that also went shopping on Christmas Eve.

To make it even crazier, I didn�t have a long list of things to purchase, most of which could have been purchased on Dec. 26. As things turned out, that shopping trip might have lasted until the day after Christmas.

First stop was looking a stocking stuffer.

My first experience shopping at an ALCO store was as a youngster walking through the aisles of a building I now work in. Duckwalls, as it was called then, was located where the Reflector-Chronicle sits today.

Toys, toys and more toys were the exciting part of walking through Duckwalls. We never bought anything but they had an aisle of toys to look at. During one visit, my mother broke down and bought me some Animal Crackers.

Hey, I was excited. I don�t remember exactly where I was at the time but when I opened up the box it was EMPTY. I was one crushed little kid.

When Duckwalls moved north and became ALCO, I was in high school and in heaven. Walking through ALCO became date night and since we didn�t buy anything, they were cheap dates. Probably not much different than high school, and middle school, kids going to malls on Saturday nights.

If you have never gone shopping on Christmas Eve, you absolutely have to next year. It�s the social event of the year. Suddenly on Monday night, everyone became friends. Complete strangers were acting and visiting like next door neighbors.

Groups of two, three, four, five people gathered in the aisles to visit about anything and everything. And the guy with just one package of AA batteries, because you have to have AA batteries on Christmas morning, waiting for the conversation to move to the next aisle so he could get to the checkout, DIDN�T CARE.

It was, after all, Christmas Eve.

�I�ve got a hammer and pocket knife ready for the grocery store next stop,� I said to the guy in front of me as we waited in line.

I was not complaining because, after all, if you are crazy enough to shop on Christmas Eve, expect a line.

�I�m headed there next, too,� he said about the grocery store across the street, West�s Country Mart.

And we weren�t the only ones.

The parking lot was full and there were at least a half dozen cars driving around and around and around, looking for a spot.

That should have been my first clue. �Run, Toto, run!�

But, after all, it was Christmas Eve.

The social activities from ALCO to West�s doubled. Of course, at least half the people that had been shopping at ALCO crossed the street and the other half that had been at the grocery store crossed the street to ALCO.

Had you been one of those many customers at Rittel�s, trying to drive through that mess, you know what I mean.

Conversations abounded: The Fiesta Bowl, K-State�s win over Florida, the Abilene High School basketball/wrestling teams, family, friends, children, grandchildren, Christmas plans and back to the Fiesta Bowl. Next Christmas Eve they should have hors d�oeuvres and refreshments in the isles.

One checkout lane was backed up to the meat department.

Did anyone care?

No. It was, after all, Christmas Eve.

Final stop of the Christmas Eve shopping extravaganza was a bottle of peach champagne.

Was it a surprise that the parking lot was full?

Was it a surprise that pockets of people were in the aisle talking about The Fiesta Bowl, K-State�s win over Florida, the Abilene High School basketball/wrestling teams, family, friends, children, grandchildren, Christmas plans and back to the Fiesta Bowl?

No.

Can�t wait for next Christmas Eve. I�m going shopping.