Christmas shopping!

This evening, after work, Sophie and I drove to Milton Keynes to make a start on my Christmas shopping. I wasn't looking forward to it at all, especially as the weather was really stormy and there were fallen trees all over the county. Mum was supposed to have come with us but her knee was still painful so it was just the two of us.

It was the first time I'd taken my car on the motorway and we had a great ride over to Junction 14. The traffic was very busy indeed but the shopping centre itself was quiet and I had no problem parking in the multi-storey. Sophie wanted a bite to eat first of all, so we went into Starbucks and I had a decaffeinated coffee while my daughter feasted on a ham and cheese croissant with one of their Christmassy lattes. Thus revived, we hit the shops!

First up was Schuh where I bought Sophie a jazzy pair of Converse trainers, then it was onto Debenhams as my Mum had given me some money to buy her Mac make-up. I'm not a fan of the way the make-up is set out (with no prices showing!) and Sophie managed to exceed the budget and chose two blushers and a gift set of eye make-up and brushes. Luckily they had 10% off so we did save a little bit! I had a look around for a jumper for Keith (to replace the one that Sophie had put in the tumble dryer) but I didn't see anything I liked or that came up to my daughter's fashionable standards. I did find a very cosy onesie for him, though, and some pyjamas for Mikey. As they had 30% off I was very pleased with my purchases!

Next we looked in House of Fraser for jumpers but they were either wildly expensive or just plain boring so we walked up to Next where I bought Keith some aftershave and a watch for Sophie. I was a bit worried that she knew all her presents but she assured me that she would rather have something she wanted than an unwelcome surprise!

We admired the Christmas decorations outside John Lewis and ventured inside. I still don't like it in there after their re-fit. It's such a mish-mash of products with no clear walkway through the store and the ceilings feel too low. We went up to the first floor and had another look for jumpers (this was where I bought Keith his gorgeous Hodge Heg fleece originally) but again, there was nothing that took my fancy. We wandered over to the computer department and looked for speakers for Sophie and headphones for Mikey but the prices were extortionate! I couldn't believe that people pay so much for speakers and headphones!

From John Lewis we had a fast walk back to the car, stopping in HMV on the way where we found speakers for Sophie. She actually plugged her iPod into the ones she wanted, not realising that the sound was turned up really high and nearly gave a nearby assistant a heart attack! I also bought her a DVD of "How I Met Your Mother" and one for my mum of "As Time Goes By". I called Mikey as I couldn't find the brand of headphones he wanted - Razer, apparently! - so we gave up and returned to the car as by now we were both flagging a bit. This was where it was great to see that the season of goodwill was still very much alive as a man gave me £1.50 to put in the parking meter! I didn't have enough coins, only notes, which the machine wouldn't accept so we were on the point of trailing back down to the shopping mall to get some change when he gave the money to Sophie. What a lovely gesture!

The journey home was fast (the car does move!) but we passed two salt spreaders so we're obviously in for a cold night. By the time we got home it was pouring with rain and still very windy so it was lovely to sit down to Keith's homemade chicken pie and a glass of whisky and ginger ale!

Christmas lights (and concrete cows!) in Milton Keynes