Braving the Boxing Day Crowd: A Sure Sign of Insanity

Though I have a soft spot for certain stores (e.g. Simon's in Quebec, which many of my med friends will attest to), I don't consider myself a huge shopper. Having a debt in a constant state of growth may have something to do with that...Anyway, typically Boxing Day is a time for me to revel in the quietness of my house while my sisters do the rounds and give their credit cards a workout.

Last winter break while in Australia, I went Boxing Day shopping with my cousin in Melbourne to determine if it's only Canadians that go insane the day after Christmas. It turns out we're not, as I witnessed people makeshift parking on grass, getting into rifts over parking spots and of course, swarms of people picking over marked down clothing. I did come out with a few good deals but it was an overwhelming experience, though I attribute part of that to seeing Christmas trees in 30 C weather.

This year, I volunteered to drive my sisters to the mall on Boxing Day and then figured that I would do a bit of shopping seeing as I was already there. My purchases weren't overly exciting - dress socks and bath products (I realized after the fact that I can't wear anything scented in the hospital so I will not be getting quite the use out of the bath products that I hoped) - but I found the whole process strangely soulless. People just seemed to be mindlessly pinballing from store to store in search of deals and not necessarily things that they actually needed. It makes you wish that people could be as passionate about things having actual bearing on their lives as they are about the sale at Aritzia.