Christmas Gawking

I went out today to do some Christmas shopping and looking at Christmas decorations.  I know lots of other people do the latter, driving around neighborhoods, hitting the local downtown to see how everything is decorated, but I've never heard a very good verb for it.  As of right now, I'm calling it Christmas gawking, for lack of a better word. 
Today's Christmas gawking was very good.  I found a bunch of tacky Christmas musicians statues.  I went past an ice skating rink, and even though it was morning, the place was in full force.  I saw some light/snowflake things and Angels with big horns decorating an area full of bushes.
I went into a toy store.  I wasn't really planning on buying anything, but I thought maybe it would get me into the spirit.  There were lots of kids running around and yelling and begging for things.  They had fancy Lego displays out.  I really love legos, still.  I loved elaborate mansions for my lego people to live in when I was little.  (I was not very interested in using the bits and pieces the way you were "meant" to; I liked making my own things, though they were probably not as appealing.)  The only bad thing was that the displays were set at a child's level, so I had to bend down to catch a peak at most of them.  Luckily, one of the square right outside the door was totally visible no matter what your height, and I loved that Darth Vader with a whip and a Stormtropper were battling it out on top of a skyscraper while some owls watched near some pirates getting drunk.  Pretty amusing. 
I headed out again.  I wandered around a bit because I had forgotten the directions I had written for myself this morning.  I was a little annoyed with myself, because I had reminded myself about five times to write them down, and then they ended staying at home anyway. 
It took me one false try, but I found where I wanted to be and headed into a shop.  This year, some of my friends and I are exchanging gifts, and I wanted to get them all done in one swoop.  Also, I wanted to get something nice for my sister.  (I had already managed a box of chocolates for my Mom.)  So, shhh!  don't tell anyone what I got for them.  :)
I was expecting to have an easy time for Lisa and Tori's gift, but actually the first thing I found was for Madison.  I was going to get her a purse, and I found one, a little bigger than I wanted, but with the design I wanted.  (It's pink.  Madison likes pink.)  So I got that down.  I found some postcards too.
(As I've mentioned before, I collect postcards.  I'm very picky with what postcards I take, and most of the kind out there I reject, but luckily I found a few I like.)
Did some more wandering around, looking in shop windows.  I went into another store and found the calendar I wanted for Tori.  (It's all pictures of hot guys.  Or what will probably be hot guys to her.  Honestly, I only found some of them attractive; what I want is a calendar of hott guys from my real life, which is to say, as a tentative list: Mark, Philip, Juicebox, Paul, Josh, Matt, Jack, Ryan, Dan...The problem with most of this list is that I suspect most of them would not agree to it, and I know Juicebox would not, because I ran the idea of him doing sexy Valentines past him last year and that did not go over well.  And, moreover, a lot of these boys are super awkward around me with clothes, and I can imagine in those pictures they'd just look super awkward without clothes, so maybe it is for the best?  Sorry.  I digress.) 
I decided not to be too picky about Lisa's gift, because she would probably love it no matter what.  I got her a stuffed teddy bear that was especially cute.  I almost got her a violently colored long-limbed monkey, but I feel like she'll like the classic better.  Lisa has a whole collection of stuffed animals (Michal complains about them.)  She even has stuffed animals buckled into the back of her car. 
I was looking at more postcards, and I found another vintage one (my favorite) and when I went to buy it (a quarter, which made it even sweeter) he told me just to take it as a gift.  I was totally flabbergasted because, yes, it was nothing, but I'm not used to getting anything for free.  I was so flabbergasted it wasn't until later I realized I didn't thank him.  Oh man.  Where have my East Lansing manners gone off too?  Maybe that's what I need to put on my Christmas list for Santa. 
The last one was my sister.  There are purses that I've been considering for her, but I didn't have any luck finding the kind I want for her.  I talked to my Mum on the phone last night for ideas, and she gave me some, but no luck yet. 
I'm going to go out again tonight and hopefully find something.  I actually have a lot to do and don't really have time for this, but I feel like I should try.  I could just get her a nice scarf (though I've never seen her wear scarves) or maybe some fancy lotion from a boutique. 
I should have started doing this earlier.