Davis: Window shopping light on wallet

Well, now we have experienced something we have never experienced before; by the time you read this article, my family and I will have had the opportunity to spend Black Friday in Dallas.

While I'm fully aware that it's in the major cities that shoppers get trampled and injured on Black Friday, that is not part of the plan.

In all honesty, it's not about spending real money, either. It has potential to be one of the greatest window shopping experiences of my life.

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Window shopping is loosely defined as mentally spending money one doesn't have for things which one doesn't need and not losing a dime in the process.

As an artisan, I almost invariably come home from a window shopping trip with ideas —I will shamelessly admit this. I find inspiration in and through other peoples' work, and any artisan who denies doing so is probably deceiving himself or herself. This is not, in any way, the same as plagiarism.

I come home with ideas for decorating. My masculinity doesn't suffer from this; I'm sure enough of my gendered self to own up to the fact that I love to decorate for the holidays. I am betting it will be truly astounding to see what decorating looks like in a major city like Dallas/Ft. Worth.

I come home with ideas for decorating me. I will be the first one to admit that my taste in personal decor is not the greatest. I am that person who has to be reminded that it is time for a haircut. I am the person whose 10-year-old granddaughter has to occasionally tell him that his outfit does not match. Yet I, even I, return from a visit to a place like Galleria with ideas on how to deck myself with clothes so jolly.

I come home from window shopping with ideas for gifts, which I suppose is one of the true aspects of the term. I have high hopes that we will be somewhere near James Avery Jewelers, where my granddaughter and I love to shop for my wife; her Nana.

One cannot leave this topic without mentioning the food, as well. Food courts are a huge plus in making window shopping worthwhile.

So I hope that you will enjoy your window shopping, as well as your cash spending, during this season of retail preparation.

Clyde Davis is a Presbyterian pastor and teacher at Clovis High School. He can be contacted at:

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