Christmas at the Mall

We went to the mall last night to do some Christmas shopping. What a "downer" that turned out to be!

When we turned into the parking lot, we saw a fair number of cars parked out front, but strangely, there were lots of spaces available. We were able to park right by the mall entrance.

As we stepped into the mall, we saw some garland with ornaments slung over the ceiling beams. There was a "get your picture with Santa" booth set up in front of one of the department stores. The stores, however, had almost no decoration whatsoever. The card store did have an orniment display and a rack devoted to Christmas cards. Other than that, we did not see even one "Merry Christmas," or even "Happy Holidays" sign. Even more depressing, was the number of empty stores and mid-mall booths. There was no toy store, no Hickory Farms booth and no calendar booth - staples of this mall, and most others, in years past.

There appeared to be more store staff than shoppers. As we left the mall, we drove past the employee parking lot: it was empty. We believe that the employees were told to park out front to make it look as if the mall was busier that it was. The whole atmosphere was about as festive as a grave yard. In fact, I have driven past more festive Hispanic grave yards celebrating "Dia del Morte," the Day of the Dead!

Bah, humbug!