Christmas shopping experience (short story)

A Christmas shopping experience

  Christmas was in less than two weeks. As soon as the clock struck eight, I grabbed my car keys and dashed out the house with a pink shopping list in my hand. It was a short list of practical Christmas gifts that took me weeks to make. I set the GPS in my phone to the location of the nearest shopping mall in town which was King'sbay mall. With more than four hundred retails stores, it was the perfect place to shop for different ages and gender. I took a deep breath and embarked on my Christmas present hunt.

  It only took me fifteen minutes to reach my destination as the streets were clear from traffic. I gasped at the sight of a sea of green parking indicators. A few red ones were occupied by loading vans. I chose a parking spot across the revolving entrance door, which led me directly to the hall at the ground floor. A rush of cold air gave me goose bumps as I entered the hall. Bright lights shone at me as if I was on a red carpet. I bopped my head along to the catchy classical rhythms that were playing through the speakers. A giant Christmas tree with a height of at least 65 feet was standing in the middle of the hall. It was clothed in colourful LED lights and glittery ornaments. Instantly, I was filled with the Christmas shopping spirit.

  I took the escalator to the second level of the mall. Strings of tassels in the colour of green, red and white were hung at the sides of the each floor. After appreciating the beautiful decorations, I glanced at my crumpled shopping list. The first item was a purse for my sister. She was still using her ancient purse that was also gifted by me five years ago. I darted my eyes at the surrounding stores and made my way to a boutique. It was a vintage boutique. 'Christmas sales' was printed in big block letters at the glass window. Next to it, a mannequin was holding a light blue purse that has flowers embroidered on it. The young shopkeeper must have seen the intrigued look on my face; she immediately showed me another purse of the same design as I entered the store. The scent of her lavender perfume and her flowy white maxi dress enhanced the theme of the store. I examined the compartments of the purse carefully to make sure it has enough space as my sister was used to collecting receipts. Satisfied at the quality of the purse, I made my purchase at the counter.

  I ticked at the side of the first item on my Christmas list. The second item was a phone case for my brother. This present was a collaboration with my sister as she was giving him a new phone. More customers started appearing as I looked around from the escalator. A pop up store caught my eye as I reached the third level. The white fabric wrapped around the whole store made it looked like an actual present. There was even a giant bow on the store. I was delighted to realize that it was a phone case store. The owner of the store was dressed in an elf costume, which was surprising normal to me at that point. His pointy ears were so realistic that I found myself staring at it. 'May I help you?' he asked in a polite tone. I told him about my brother's obsession with Star Wars and the colour green. He nodded and went to the back of the store. While waiting, I glanced through the displayed phone covers. They were all unique in their own ways. The owner came back with a sleek black Star Wars phone case in his hand. It has pictures of different light sabers at the back with the iconic star wars font. I knew it was the one so I immediately paid for it.

  After strolling around for a while, I entered a clothing store in hopes to find matching jackets for my parents. The air conditioning in the store was particularly strong, which made me wonder if that was a business trick. It did not take me long to see a pair of cotton maroon jackets. I felt the quality with my fingers and let out a smile because I knew my parents would love it. They were going on a vacation to Japan soon, so these jackets would be put to use. Coming out of the store, I decided to have breakfast in one of the café. Thinking of the Christmas menu made me drooled. That marked the end of my Christmas shopping experience.