The halls glow with bright green and red lights. The store windows glisten with cute paintings of snow-covered trees and ornaments. Golden ropes and an adorable Santa Claus surround the tall tree to promote the Christmas shopping season.

I hate it. I hate all of it.

Although the Brea mall is usually one of my favorite places to hang out, it has become a zoo of desperate people rushing to stores since the Friday after Thanksgiving—the air thick with the smell of Chinese food, perfume and sweat.

At noon on Dec. 4, I was at the mall on a mission—to buy my Yuletide gifts and get out of there as soon as possible. I stood in the middle of the hallway and was immediately lost in a sea of people. Everywhere I could hear little kids screeching as they played tag and dodged in and out of the throng.

Envious of their agility, I made my way to Forever 21 to find a present for a friend. Walking through the doorway, I realized that the masses had preceded me into the stores, and merchandise was strewn about the stands and the floors. People shoved everywhere to try to get into every nook and cranny to look for clothes and accessories.

‘Tis the season to be pushy.

But I decided that I owed my friend this suffering, and went next door to Wet Seal which was amazingly vacant. I soon discovered why. When I found something I thought my friend would like, I flipped the tag over to see how much it cost. Fifteen dollars for a pair of plastic earrings. Unbelievable. Even the accessories on sale were over twelve dollars.

So as I continued to work my way through stores, I realized that prices on everything had gone up, and everything was expensive.

Why?

Because it’s the holiday shopping season.

Fortunately, I spotted my two new favorite words, SALE and CLEARANCE everywhere. However, there were people swarming to reach the treasure themselves.
I’m not saying that I don’t want to spend money on my friend; it’s just that I don’t have enough money to splurge that much on every single one of my friends, and even if I did, I would want to use the hard-earned cash on something worth the price.

And so, I looked.

I looked through racks of clothes at Silhouette. I foraged through pools of lotion, soap, body spray and lip gloss at Bath and Body works. I zoomed in and out of stores, crazed and frustrated.

It was kind of depressing, really.

After two hours of searching, I finally found a reasonably-priced bracelet I thought my friend would like at Anchor Blue and waited at the end of a line trying to buy it.

A half an hour later, the cashier handed me my receipt and change. Finally! Freedom! I made my escape out of Anchor Blue and ran straight into yet another line of people outside the store. Lines crisscrossed the entire mall. Squeezing through clumps of people, I left.

At long last, after a long day, I was finally long gone.

My friend had better appreciate her gift. If she looks at the bracelet in disgust after I had spent all that time looking and waiting, then the whole afternoon would have been a waste. I pushed, I searched, I suffered for her benefit.

But even after all that stress and frustration, I feel good about myself—as if I were standing on top of the world, exhilarated. I had spent all that effort for a good reason. And for this short moment, I don’t hate the crowds, the prices and the lines.

Holiday shopping is just another one of those things that you have to suffer through, such as washing the dishes every night. It’s a tradition, just like little kids sitting on Santa’s lap in the middle of the mall, or two people kissing under the mistletoe. Without the strain of the mall, something would be missing; it’s a pain, but it’s well worth it.

I guess holiday shopping isn’t that bad.

Maybe hate is too strong of a word.

Dislike. I utterly dislike holiday shopping.

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posted - 3:32 PM