In the ho, ho, home stretch

Dec. 24, 2006

By Russell Stigall

Frontiersman

WASILLA - Last-minute holiday shopping is supposed to be a pain. Parents and spouses battling for the season's final gifts - iPods, Xboxes or bottles of Wild Turkey.

People so short on time are not supposed to pause in snowy parking lots of local stores to chat with reporters. And though the lines of vehicles waiting to park Saturday were sometimes longer than those at the cash registers, it was two days before Christmas and holiday shoppers appeared polite, calm and fairly holly jolly.

Outside Fred Meyer in Wasilla, shoppers shuttled in and out the store's automatic doors, their breath wispy in the 20-degree air. They shoved shopping carts filled with primary-colored boxes of toddler toys, bottles of sparkling apple cider and rolls of wrapping paper.

A queue of cars snaked out of the parking lot, past Carl's Jr. and onto the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. Though parking was tight and the line moved slowly, drivers paused to let pedestrians cross.

Two days before Christmas. No panic. No rush. Norman Rockwell could not paint a more tranquil community.

But a belief in the imminent rush, the myth of the crazed throngs of last-minute shoppers, was alive in the minds of many morning shoppers.

A gas station attendant giving directions to Wal-Mart warned against shopping so close to Christmas. He held out his hands like a newspaper headline: &#8220Man lost in crowds at Wal-Mart,” he said.

Randy Green of Wasilla was out for his usual Saturday grocery shopping with his son, George, 10, and daughter, Megan, 10. Though twins, George said his extra two minutes made him Megan's older brother.

Green said he didn't mind picking up the weekly groceries in the rush of business on the Saturday before Christmas. It would only get worse if he waited any longer, he said.

&#8220I'm glad we got out when we did,” he said.

Despite the tradition of last-minute Christmas shopping panic, most shoppers quietly went about their business.

Lisa Brown browsed the Christmas sale rack at Fred Meyer. Her son, Chris Brown, 2, busied himself with a small bag of M&Ms.

&#8220He's being so good,” Brown said.

The main items on Brown's Christmas list were bought days before, she said. She was in no rush to find the perfect gift. But since she was out already getting milk, she said she decided to pick up some discounted Christmas items.

She held out a cellophane-wrapped Santa candle. &#8220This will go good with a box of chocolates.”

Wearing pint-sized Santa hats, Logan, 6, and his sister Eden, 4, helped their mother, Cammy Samson, push a full cart out to their car. They'd left their father, Jeff Samson, and 9-year-old sister, Samantha, browsing inside Fred Meyer.

Normally, the family would be long finished with their season shopping, Cammy said. But this year, her husband had just returned to Wasilla from Saint Paul Island.

&#8220There're not many stores out on Saint Paul,” Cammy said, pointing to her last-minute gifts. Undaunted by the crowds and the traffic, Samson said she was next headed to Wal-Mart.

Hunter Richardson, 20 months old, bounced in the basket of the shopping cart his mom, Robin Richardson, pushed through the snowy Fred Meyer parking lot. Hunter's sister, Madison, 6, trudged along beside them.

&#8220I will never do this again,” Robin Richardson said.

Though still in high spirits, Richardson said last-minute shopping is not her modus operandi. She said it reminded her why she is not one to procrastinate. The crowds and lines were too much.

&#8220And to top it off,” she said, &#8220I got a jacked-up cart.” She laughed and demonstrated her shopping cart's crooked front casters. &#8220I had to keep making right-hand turns all around the store.”

Contact Russell Stigall at

352-2267 or russell.stigall@ frontiersman.com