HAVE you noticed how the Christmas season gets longer every year? It’s rare now not to see Christmas lights and Santa Claus candles mixed in with the Halloween masks and pumpkins in October.
When I first came to country living, I was used to shopping malls and crowds. Over the years, I have adapted very well thank you to our small town way of shopping minus malls and elbows in the ribs from the person on the escalator.
This past weekend we were in Saskatoon and in one of my wilder moments I suggested going into one of the malls.
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It took us 20 minutes to get in, because only one of the automatic ticket dispensers was working, the underground lot was full and we drove around for 15 minutes looking for a parking spot.
The three-block walk in sub-zero temperature to the mall was the best part of the experience.
In the mall, it was hot and stuffy and there was nowhere to check our coats.
We went for lunch and sat hip to hip with another couple at a table barely big enough to hold our soup and sandwiches.
The mall was packed; there were crying children, frustrated mothers, grim-looking men sitting on benches and pacing the halls doing what most men do when their wives are shopping: waiting.
Everywhere there were lineups. No quick service at the mall on the weekends before Christmas.
Again this year, I will do most of my shopping at home in our town.
I am always amazed by the variety of goods and services our smaller merchants offer. That’s not to say they have everything, but in many cases they have more than most people think and too often country people don’t give local retailers a chance to show what they can do.
Recent lean farming years were good for small town business people. With money scarce, people shopped at home.
This year, with some prosperity returned to the countryside, there is the strong possibility people will head for the glitz and glitter of the city.
This is understandable and it’s OK.
But we must all keep in mind that it’s the local merchants who throughout the year support our communities with their taxes, their services, their donations to various causes. When locals want a donation for a hockey tournament or a band calendar, they don’t go to the city malls, they turn to their local merchants.
Christmas is a fine time to say thanks for this support by shopping at home.
