Where is all of the 'Christmas Spirit?' | Christmas Shopping

It must be said, at this time of year I tend to have a love / hate relationship with shopping , well I say it's shopping but if I'm being totally honest it's Christmas shoppers. I apologise in advance for the unseasonably downer of a Christmas post but I'm afraid the world must be called out on their behaviour and so called 'Christmas cheer'  

I entered with high hopes, my mum had treated me to a slap up breakfast in town and the sight of the biggest and brightest decorations the shopping centres had to offer left me feeling incredibly full of festive cheer and I was incredibly ready and rearing to greet the days worth of shopping. And that's when it happened...

The not so subtle shoving, barging, pushing, lack of shopper etiquette as well as the complete and total abandonment of the much coveted Christmas spirit of the year and so the days events unfolded! If I could pinpoint one moment in the day I began to notice a difference I suppose I would say it all started with a tea set, beautiful, vintage and right up one of my friends/family members street the perfect gift....and did I mention it was also the very last one in store! Having picked it up, examined it for scratches, scathes and general scrappiness I decided, yes, this was the one, but all the while I felt a breath on my neck and a handbag nearly up my backside of another suitor for this tea set and upon discovering, much to her dismay, that I had claimed it as my own audibly sighed, mumbled profanities and shot a look in my direction which can only be described as 'bah humbug'....and that was only the beginning.

Throughout my Christmas journey I encountered similar acts of festive cheer and bah-humbugery of the highest order, such as the lady who decided to stop dead in the middle of the busiest street in town only to tut and titter when everyone maneuvered quickly around her or goodness forbid accidentally bump her handbag or perhaps the tale of the family who decided to use their push chair (child still inside) as a battering ram in order to fully dominate the tiny aisle space in BHS would be a more Christmassy tale. And lets not get started on Poundland (which may as well have a sign above the door which reads, 'Ye who enter here, abandon all hope) where I ditched all of my shopping in favour of sanity at having seen the queuing system, or lack thereof, a pet peeve of mine and the rest of the nation. Or perhaps the most interesting of all the elderly lady in Thorntons  who fully bashed, and made me fall onto the counter, in a bid to show her disdain for her lack of purchase, but not to worry she was quickly shut down by the cashier who came to my rescue as the bumper decided it was in fact my ass that was too big, as opposed to her manners being too few.

Much resembling THAT scene from much beloved comedy Christmas movie, 'Jingle All the Way' (the bit with the ball chasing) my hometown became a bloodbath of red tinsel, festive footwear and frivolous spending (that is the only way I can describe a woman piling handfuls upon handfuls of Christmas gift bags into her paws!)

So today ladies and gentleman I ask, why at the 'most wonderful time of the year', the time we ought to be the kindest, warmest and cheeriest we can be (it is indeed an unrealistic expectation I know) do we behave like animals, abandon all sense of moral right and wrong and simply stress one another out!? I myself have noticed that since the Black Friday madness those of us not living under a rock were forced to endure, shopping and the entire experience has refused to go back to normality and the sales aren't even on any more!

In fact in order to de-stress, cool off, let off some steam and generally calm down my mum and I found ourselves trailing a MILLION bags into the cinema with us to see Paddington, and I tell you it worked wonders, watching a fuzzy wee bear navigate London made Aberdeen and the shoppers look a little bit better.

Everything about the entire Christmas shopping experience this year has forced me to reevaluate the way in which I shop, the next time I shall not be going out armed with a fluffy parka and eyes full of hope, instead my weapon of choice will be steel capped boots and a hard visor! 

As I said I do apologise for the cynical Christmas post but I just wondered if everyone elses Christmas shopping experiences have been similar to mine this year? Or is it perhaps just me? (I really hope not) I would love to hear your Christmas shopping experiences from this year or perhaps you have a funny Black Friday story to share! Either way leave them in the comments below, come share them with me on Twitter or if you'd like to hear more of my Granite City rants be sure to follow me on Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, I'll be here catching up with a little zen!

H.Elizabeth x