On Christmas Day

For those of us who do not celebrate Christmas Day as a religious holiday, we arrive at this day with two things for certain. Like death and taxes, we know there will always be two things we can do: go out for Chinese food and shop at Walgreen’s.

I made my pilgrimage to Walgreen’s after a lunch of leftover salad with a side of a granola bar, and filled my head with wondrous thoughts of make-up, candy, magazines and perhaps a cheap toy for my granddaughter. The Christmas Day possibilities were endless. This trip could take an entire hour before I had to return to my house to find my husband in bed with a cold and hacking cough, and my computer still open to the last page I worked on yesterday.

Alas, I made it the make-up section and immediately found a lovely woman to help me. I am, in case it was still unclear, Jewish, I have been mistaken for Italian, Greek, Pakistani, Puerto Rican, Mexican, etc. All of whom could of course be Jewish, but it seems my Russian, Romanian, French roots are not evident in my face. The saleswoman was also of apparent Middle-Eastern decent and so we had similar coloring and she was helpful on color choices. I decided I must send my saliva to a genetic testing place once and for all. The store was relatively empty and we had a good time chatting about our backgrounds, laughing about our hair problems, and having somewhere to be on Christmas.

Leaving the store, I was refreshed, having spent some time talking with a healthy, not coughing adult, and managing to get out with a bill of only $47.00. Worth the trip I would say. Merry Christmas!