Christmas Spirit on Ed’s Budget

I’m a self proclaimed Christmas junkie - I love the silly Christmas songs, the winter wonderland, the frosty snowmen, the dorky sweaters, the tacky lights. I can’t help it, this season makes me happy. So I was sitting at home on my day off last week when I decided it was time for me to decorate the living room. For cheap.

As mentioned before, one of us still labours for minimum wage. I’m not complaining - it's my own doing - I’m just on a tight budget. As well, I just don’t think it’s worth it to spend tons of money on stuff I’m only going to use once a year and probably lose before I can use again. So I wandered over to Bloor St. and entered the best place I could think of: the city’s largest dollar store Honest Ed's (gigantic flashing building on the corner of Bathurst and Bloor, as if you didn't know).

I don’t think I’ve ever been in there when I didn’t get lost. They have some sort of magnetic field that throws off my spatial intelligence. Plus their structural layout doesn’t make logical sense, but I guess that’s just part of the charm. When I finally located their holiday decoration section, (I couldn’t even tell you where. It’s in the room where they keep their toasters and hardware) I had already filled my basket with discount canned food and bags of candy that I had to then remove to make room for the Christmas swag. But oh the selection and the slashed down prices! They have trees, lights, wreaths, stockings, ornaments, and more, all in one handy place. I didn’t pick up anything that cost more than $2, and I still had trouble carrying it all home in my canvas bag.

The total: $7.71. My picks: large plastic red and white candy cane ($.99), small fake Christmas tree (.99), large gold ornament balls (.99), set of 35 coloured lights (1.77), long plastic twig with berries (.99), felt reindeer hair band (.99), and a string of gold beads (.99). Arrange them artfully around the room and you have instant Christmas cheer. Also available: delightful plastic artifacts to celebrate other major December holidays.

Only $7 and the living room feels all warm and snuggly. Santa will be so impressed.

e