Whoville at Winco

I am an avid fan of Winco. Low prices, great bagels. But yesterday was especially nice.

Brent was home early, so I left at 2:30 for a pre-Christmas Winco trip that I dreaded would take hours. It had been a rough day. I'd already had one meltdown. You see, I am still convincing myself I want a dog, which I am doing at the same time that I am potty training the dog. These two activities should not be done in tandem. And yesterday, I was not making progress on either activity. So Brent came home to relieve me (from watching Hugo relieve himself on our carpet), and I was off to Winco.

When I entered Winco's doors I was low on Christmas spirit. But it didn't last and this is why. I could not withstand the TIDAL WAVE of Christmas spirit overwhelming the entire warehouse. Everyone was chatty and merry and extra polite, all acting like they must have 20 to 80 years ago when they were little children on Christmas eve. In the bulk candy section, a shopper: "Oh, candy corns, are you making something fun with those?" In the refrigerated section, a worker with a grin on his face: "things are crazy tonight, aren't they, I can't stock the shelves fast enough." In the bakery, another shopper: "Aren't these the best bagels?" (notice I'm not the only one who loves the bagels). It was all so strange. Usually I'm the more bubbly one at the grocery store, but these people were like the Whos in Whoseville, not seeming to mind if something was almost out or if they were working a long shift. They were like the people in a Dickens story, "But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time...as a good time--a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therfore, uncle...I say, God bless it!"

No question I left Winco with a lighter step. And though it somehow took me until 8:30 before all the groceries were put away, I really did not mind. I felt the Winco trip was time well spent. And I think Dickens himself would have been uplifted by the shoppers and grocers in Winco last night.