how to get him to enjoy Christmas shopping 101

Dragged the wee sick one and R out yesterday evening for a couple of hours of pre-Christmas extravaganza at a fabulous shop for people with way too much money and time on their hands called Terra greenhouses-it really is a fabulous place. They were having their Christmas shopping party and by giving the tiniest discount and the promise of free food, succeeded in convincing all of their "best" customers to part with their hard earned cash in the thousands. Now it may be too early for all of this consumer madness but I have to say, I was sucked in. The multitude of designer Christmas trees, larger than life outdoor urn compositions (some for over a thousand bucks), the smell of fresh green cedar and eucalyptus, a lovely trio featuring a very elegant older woman with the voice of a young Rosemary Clooney, the hot cider, the free photos and of course, the free food. I am somewhat shameless in my pursuit of free food and I have discovered that it is the secret to getting R to enjoy an event which may result in him opening up his wallet. One has to suss out the area from which the free food is emerging and make friends with the servers. If one has a particular desire for seconds all one has to do is merely ask the server to brig more. I kept R well in the sushi and the wee one well in the cookies enough to do some seriously useless shopping. Now I am all ready for House and Garden magazine to come and photograph my home just in time for the holidays.