After a long day shopping for gifts, we may long for the long lost days when we think it was simpler at Christmastime. Well, maybe it wasn’t! Check out this poem I just found from nearly a century ago…

HER CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
By Carolyn Wells
(Published in 1913)

WHY do I have to shop?
Upon my word,
‘Tis utterly absurd
The way I race
And chase
From place to place!
The way I madly run from store to store,
The bargains looking o’er;
Trying to find some novel gift for Anne,
Or Dan,
Or Nan,
Or hunting something new for Uncle Steve;
Seeking strong toys
For Gertrude’s boys,-
They’d break a cannon-ball, I do believe!
And all I buy, no doubt
The children would be better off without.
Nor do their elders care a cent about
The little silver things, or blue delft clocks.
Burnt leather fancy-work, embroidered stocks.
Which they mendaciously pronounce the very
Things they desire to make their Christmas merry!
Ah, well.
If I the truth must tell,
I do the same;
My fellow-sufferers I ought not to blame.
So on I go, like any jaded hack;
Buying, exchanging, often sending back.
Pushed by the populace, jammed by the crowd,
Muttering imprecations deep, not loud.
So on I go, –
But somehow, do you know?
I rather like it after all.
Were I a millionaire, with servants at my call.
To none would I entrust
My Christmas shopping. No, I ever must
Do that myself. It is my great delight
To shop at Christmastide from morn till night.

This poem could have been written today, with the exception of the gifts… they are a bit old-fashioned! So you can feel some satisfaction knowing that you come from a long line of Christmas shoppers over the years!

Take a deep breath and try to take some pleasure in the season!

Mama Lisa

Illustration: “Christmas Treasures” by Steffi Kraus (1922)