>>Bookstores do NOT fall into the category of shopping. :0)
>
>As my daughters would put it, "you took my say".
>But then, they hurt the wallet just like real shopping. Two cures here:
>- I don't carry a wallet. What doesn't fit the jeans pockets, isn't worth carrying.
>- still haven't finished the city library :).
>
>Besides, I like shopping... because it's my wife that does it. I just stand idly by, or stand outside, watch the people passing by (don't get to see them much anyway, being a telecommuter). Though, when I have to buy something for myself, it's a pain. Which I either cut short, or take my time waiting for the thing to come by. Presently, I'm in my third week of buying new headphones... and still looking.
not under any pressure to do any shopping in December either :).

In France they have the right idea. At the entrance to the supermarket there's an authentically-styled bar-tabac where the men slip off for a cognac, a coffee, a cig and a good gallic chin-wag with the other "chauffeurs" while the women do the shopping. The only men you get are English tourists in shorts, with the whole family. :-)