I had planned to pick up only one thing in that store, just 5 minutes in and out. All I needed was a large white candle. But I knew I was in trouble the minute I entered the Christmas Tree store.
In the front on display were some of those lighted deer for the yard, and they were only $16.99. We have both a doe and a buck that decorate our front yard, but last year, one of them was not working. Jack had replaced the white wire lights with green wire ones and duct tape, but it still didn’t work (bless him, he tried). I called Jack to confirm that it was the buck, and into the cart it went. (I could hear Jack in the background telling me how the old one still worked….)
And on it went that day. It was so much fun picking up holiday items like Starbucks coffee, shortbread cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, and other little things to make up gift baskets for co-workers and friends. But I did not get the candle I went in there for, of course.
The best part of the day happened an hour later when with an almost full cart, I made my way to the checkout. A cute little old lady in front of me, wearing a plum-colored coat and hat, looked at me and asked if I had “one of these.” I looked; it was a coupon for 20 percent off the entire purchase. When I told her I didn’t, she handed me hers and said “enjoy” and slowly walked away from my numerous “thank yours” and “how nice of yous.” Her kindness and generosity saved me $14.22.
The coupon was still good for a couple of days so I went back the next day and bought new light-up trees to go with the deer and gave the 20 percent coupon to the lady behind me. She got the same big smile I had and said, "Awesome, thank you." That felt as good to give as it did to get!
