For Thursday, December 18, 1997 Drummer Column, Gibbs, 653 words

Spend some time with your money

I'm having a tough go at Christmas shopping this year. I'm not sure why. I walk through the stores, but everything looks like clutter and stuff. Where others see treasures and keepsakes, I'm seeing future garage sale items.

I happened through Macys the other day and was overwhelmed by the sheer inventory. Mountains of products assailed my senses. I couldn't bring myself to focus on one item. Instead I looked at all things.

This wasn't a store. It was a warehouse with carpets -- all shelves on shelves on shelves bulging with bottles, boxes, and bags; racks of trousers and coats spread out like slot machine carousels; pyramids of puzzles, shoes and Calphalon splayed across the floors and raised to eye level.

I stepped out into the mall and shopped door-to-door, around and around. Cardboard bookshelves of glossy Bestsellers were pushed to the store line. Preserved sausages beckoned me with their musky hickory smoke. Kitchen appliances by the thousands gave me sensory overload. The aisles were crowded with teenagers and their children.

I spent most of the day, and came home with a puzzle and a box of glow stars for my classroom.

It's not the fault of the shops. They have good stuff. Deep down I, too, see treasures hidden. I've long since come to a peaceful coexistence with the commercialization of Christmas. I love giving and receiving. Heck, I just wrote a story about how much I liked Christmas shopping. Still…

I'm having a tough go at Christmas shopping this year. So is my wife. "Ah, let's just give 'em money," she says.

Our daughter, you see, recently got married and received tons of wedding presents and bills. Our son is in college, living in a single dorm cubicle, and bills. Sue's folks are loaded and just want some company. My folk is far away and has every kitchen appliance a thin, single woman with no one to cook for could possibly want. Susan wants doors for Christmas. I just want to open a few presents. I don't care what's inside.

Ah-ha. I think I figured out why I'm having a tough go at Christmas shopping this year. I have no one to shop for.

I just had to type it out.

O.K. So. Is that it? Does that explain everything? Is that why Macy's and the mall looked so cluttered?

No. I think they looked cluttered because they're cluttered. Malls exist to sell good products fast with a friendly smile; Have a nice day, somewhere else. They aren't designed to provide hospice.

For hospitality one has to shop downtown. A town is a home is a town. It's not the same as a mall. It's an apple and an orange. A stroll down First Street adds variety and a leisurely pace to the spirit of Christmas shopping. With stores between restaurants between parks between friends, one can spend the day downtown without feeling pushed or pulled.

The problem is that most of us wait until the last minute to go shopping. Then we're in a hurry. And where's the best place to shop when people are in a hurry? At the mall. It's compact, out of the weather and fast: fast food for our bellies and fast gifts for the family.

If we started early, like tonight or this weekend, we could afford a languid loop through Benicia. We could combine our Christmas shopping with sight seeing, friend seeing, and a nice dinner.

Downtown Benicia is like a rare flower with its stem in the straits. The more we talk to it, pay attention to it, fertilize it, the more beautiful it grows. Shopping in town is a gift we give ourselves.

I'm having a tough go at Christmas shopping this year. I need to turn my situation into a benefit. Just because nobody needs anything doesn't mean I can't buy them something. I think I'll take a walk downtown.