Pickles by Brian Crane for December 18, 2020

Earl must be a distant relative of Ed McMahon. Ed said he would wait till the last minute to do his Christmas shopping.

One year I waited until just before Christmas. Never again will l do that. I was nearly in a panic when I saw so many empty shelves. Talk about stress!

yeah, Earl, what’s the rush?

I have a friend still waits until the 24th.

Given their ages, they really should have ordered things from Amazon due to Covid-19 and they should have ordered by now.

I start my Christmas shopping on the day after Boxing Day!!

/SNARK/

Waiting until the last minute to do shopping is a tradition. Just look at the movies. They don’t show people calmly ordering online or shopping at the store way in advance. Nope, not how it’s done!

Mostly online this year!

C’mon, no man ever started before December 23. Ever.

which means that Opal’s gift will probably come from the local drug store!

Thank You Earl ! That is how you do it !

Originally run December 18, 2003

I don’t think Earl INTENDS on shopping…..do you?

Christmas shopping at 7-eleven, aye?

Yeah……. that sounds about right.

Or kmart: https://youtu.be/X96Un6POoo8

That’s what gift cards are for.

Regardless of the time of year, if I see something I know would be a great gift for someone (especially if it’s on sale) I get it and put it in the “Christmas corner” of my guest room. Buying through the year doesn’t stress the budget either.

MOST husbands wait til Dec 24 at 4:00PM to start shopping. OK gentlemen, prove me wrong. lol

All non-essential shops are closed in the Netherlands, so too late to do any shopping now, apart from online.

I used to go to the Hook’s Drugs* store on Christmas Eve just to get my jollies from watching last minute shoppers. *this will make sense to older Hoosiers

And then there’s my approach which is don’t approach it at all.

Don’t forget 24 hour super truckstop stores.

Earl has a very different calendar and energy!

Online Black Friday as usual…2nd week of December: gifts wrapped ,bagged & delivered. :^)

The gas station sells gift cards to almost everywhere. Only takes five minutes to do the whole family.

Strange as I get older I start earlier and earlier. I bought my first present for Christmas last July. I’m always on the look out for Christmas and Birthday gifts for the Grandkids.

i always used to wait until 12/24th to do mine, then had 2 grandsons and discovered layaway

He’s a regifter, you can bet on it. Like my former boss / pal who would send holiday cards HE received in prior years. (Never a dull moment back then.)

I have started my holiday shopping and got everyone their own baby yoda.

My philosophy!!

Ours is long done, we do small, then does not take as much.

I’m all done.

My dad used to wait until Christmas Eve to shop for my mom’s gift. He also was very canny when it came to paying for the item. He would tell the cashier that he would not be paying tax on the item as they already doubled the price of it. (He usually bought her a very nice piece of jewelry) And they would not charge him tax either…The man was a genious!

When the kids were young I’d hit K-Mart, maybe 23 December, just go berserk. Now, my honey would have all her shopping done by Thanksgiving.

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the difference between Men and Women.

Of the thousands of differences between men and women, shopping ranks high. Women love to shop, most men hate it.

My wife buys her own gifts. That way, it’s the right size, color and style. She’s happy and I’m not a dumb butt.