Yeah. And fortunately (or not? lol) for me, I have ZERO family, which makes our holidays pretty easy to navigate. My inlaws live just down the road so after we have Christmas morning at our place, we head over there for the rest of the day/night.

quote:

Originally posted by Swamper Are any of you still rushing to malls for christmas shopping or is it all 90% online purchases ( 🙋‍♂️ ) ?

I suspect I�m in the minority here, but I have a fondness for shopping centres. Not the shiny corridors or the piped-in music � I couldn�t care less for that � but the rituals they allow. Every Saturday, without fail, we go. It�s almost religious, in a secular sort of way. My wife, ever the diligent collector of rewards, loves December here in Brazil for the gifts these places offer. Spend this much, they say, and you�ll be a good consumer. She complies, joyfully. We�ve already earned a set of ceramic plates with little Bras�lia motifs rendered in black and white, like a souvenir someone decided to make posh.

Later today, I�ll probably find myself back there. I need a new pair of earbuds, and I�ve been dressing up more often at the office � an attempt, I suppose, to look the part. Perhaps I�ll pick up some new work shirts, something sharp but not ostentatious. The kind of clothes that say, �I tried so far� but not too hard. In the end, it doesn't even matter.

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I like that, well said. You're a good writer, Lira.

There's a book I read a couple years ago that touched on some of that, the idea of mall ritual and routine - "Meet Me By the Fountain" by Alexandra Lange. It captures a lot of the nostalgia of the mall heyday in the 80s and 90s.

Happened to be at the mall while reading your reply. It's a decently sized mall, probably one of the better ones in the metro area here, and I was thinking about how a year or two after covid it seemed like this mall was destined to slowly die like so many other malls have. I was shocked to see how jam packed it was now...30 minute lines in and out of the parking lots, no space in the parking garage, every store and avenue jammed with people.

I don't love all the traffic and frenzy this time of year, but being there it felt gloriously alive. It wasn't anywhere near this busy this time last year. Honestly it was kind of encouraging; it felt more normal than it had in years.

Oh nice Linkin Park reference, almost missed it, ha.

Thanks, I�m really glad you liked the post and the Linkin Park reference It�s funny, I�ve been posting less these days, but I keep hoping to leave something more amusing behind. I have to admit, though, I�ve been feeling a bit "adventurous", or less anxious, with DeepL and ChatGPT � honestly, they�ve been the real MVPs, catching those stray typos, fixing the quirky bits of grammar. Little helpers, those two

And I totally agree with you. I haven�t read the book yet, but I love how the mall feels alive, especially during the Yuletide season when everything�s wrapped up in red, green, and white around here. It�s all a bit nostalgic for me too, reminding me of those days when I�d wait all year to go with my parents and tell them where they could get me a Super Street Fighter II cartridge. Then, I�d spend Boxing Day with my siblings, pressing buttons on an overheating SNES, trying to do Fei Long impersonations � poor imitations, of course � which my parents thought was some sort of post-Christmas-turkey vocal warm-up ritual

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Happy Friday everyone. Wife is out of town so it's just me and girls this weekend. That means lots of ice cream, cookies, burgers, iPad and Bluey. Mommy is gonna be a little upset when she comes back to sugar raged kids whose brains have rotted from excess screen time.

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@Lira haha yes! SSF2 was huge! I remember anxiously awaiting that in the mail after we ordered it when we were living overseas (Dad was in the army at the time). Cammy was my fav. Your Fei Long impersonations bit had me cracking up. We had the Genesis version so the sounds and voices were extra scratchy...always wanted to play the SNES version. Man I hadn't thought about that in decades.

@72hr good call! Bluey is the one kids' show I can watch and re-watch without limit. Fantastic stuff.