Be your own Santa.

I don't usually get much for Christmas, for good reason: my parents (who would be my primary source of presents) are pretty much paying for the degree I've been working on the past three years. Most of my family is solidly working-class anyway, so big-ticket gift items have never really been part of my Christmases. Going into this Christmas, I wasn't expecting much. I asked everybody that buys me presents for the same two things: passes to the indoor pool and gift cards to Bike Doctor, both for triathlon training purposes. I was hoping that a few people would go the Bike Doctor route, giving me enough money to finally buy some cycling shoes.

Things didn't really work out that way. My mom thinks I have no business taking up new sports which requre new equipment, so she wasn't about to contribute to that. She did tell an aunt to get me the pool passes, but that aunt refused, saying that the pool in question isn't clean enough (she actually bought me soap instead). Another relative never got to the pool, but did buy me towels, which are really nice. I got gift cards to Barnes and Noble, Trader Joe's, Giant, Dunkin' Donuts, and Noodles and Company, but nothing bike-related. Fortunately, I did get some cash, which allowed me to take matters into my own hands this afternoon.

Just as I don't get a whole lot for Christmas, I also don't do much shopping, for pretty much the same reason: if I don't have money to pay my tuition, I don't have money to buy things. Also, I dislike crowds and loathe the mall. Thus, my disposable income usually goes to food, running stuff, and downloading books on my Kindle. I can't remember the last time I actually spent several hours going to several stores, only buying things for myself. Its rare enough that it merits a blog post! Here's the rundown:

The shopping actually started a few days ago, on 12/23. That night, I was up in my attic struggling to make my niece's Christmas present on my garage-sale 1970's sewing machine: 

I have been teaching myself to sew on this machine for awhile now, with the idea that I would master the basics on it before I upgrade to something better. It worked fine for last year's homemade gifts. This year, though, something just wasn't right. The thread tension got out of whack and I simply could not fix it. After hours of work, I did not have one passable seam. So, at 8:30 the night of the 23rd, I did what I swore I would not do: went to the mall. Shockingly, I found parking right up front and the stores were not too crowded. I picked up a super-basic Singer machine for $80 and was home by 9:30. Problem solved. The new machine has no frills, and I'll probably want an upgrade eventually, but going from a 70's machine to one made this year is definitely a big and exciting improvement. I finished my niece's present easily and have been working on a couple extra projects just for fun.

Now, on to this afternoon, or shopping day 2: My first stop was B&N, where I hoped to use my gift card to buy calenders. Unfortunately, all the good ones were already gone. I was about to leave and save the gift card for another day when I spotted something on a 50% off table: 

That's a gift set of Thomas Keller cookbooks: The French Laundry and Ad Hoc at Home. I've picked up these books many times before, but always put them back down due to cost and impracticality. The French Laundry is way beyond my skill level and would just be a "food porn" coffee table book. Ad Hoc at Home is more manageable, but still expensive: $50 at B&N, $31 on Amazon. This set has both books, and the discount plus my Mom's store membership brought it down to $45. Knock off another $25 with the gift card and I got both the food porn and the one I can actually use for $20. Score.

Next, I headed over to Bike Doctor, where I pooled all my cash and finally bought the cycle shoes. (I was so excited about them that I took an unplanned extra spin class this evening just to test them out). While I was there, I also took a quick look at bikes, and was pleased to see many more in my price range than I had expected. Come Spring, I hope to visit them again.

After Bike Doctor, I used the grocery store gift cards. This would probably not be exciting to most people, but I love to cook and I deliberately bought things I would not buy normally: steaks, fancy coffee, a couple whole chickens to freeze, things like that.

Finally, I headed over to the mall to continue my calendar search. It was a NIGHTMARE- way more crowded today than it had been the night of the 23rd! It was probably a good last stop because it reminded me why I don't usually like to shop and should keep me from going back anytime soon. I did find the calendars I wanted, though, and I got to pick up some dinner with the Noodles and Company card.

So, now I am at home, surrounded by new things, and (even better) not crippled with guilt for spending too much money. Thanks, do-it-yourself-Santa!