Christmas is approaching, and most students aren’t even close to finishing their holiday shopping. I arrived at the Galleria last weekend and fought through thick traffic to find a parking spot. I entered near the Cheesecake Factory, the new and wildly popular restaurant.

Notorious for its three-hour waits, the extravagantly decorated eatery has an 18-page menu with 40 different kinds of cheesecake for dessert. Although the food sounded good, I didn’t have any desire to endure the horrific line, so I decided to do some shopping.

I needed to find a gift for my young cousin, so I went on a search for toys. I noticed that, sadly, the Disney store will not reopen until Spring 2003, so I decided that the Lego Factory would suffice.

After perusing the aisles of this builders paradise, I wandered into the Build-a-Bear workshop.

In the colorful store packed with fuzzy animals and swarms of children, I picked out the fur and started to stuff my bear. Then the employee gave me a little stuffed heart and told me to spin in a circle three times with my index finger on my nose. I kissed the heart for good luck and stuck it in my bear. The final steps of the creation process included fluffing my bear, picking out an outfit, and choosing a name for him. I stuck my bear in a cute little biker outfit and named him Blitzen.

After my Build-a-Bear experience, I headed down to Libby Lulu to make some shower gel and body glitter gel for my sister. I know she likes bath stuff, and the best part was that I actually made them for her!

After that, I decided to shop for my boyfriend. I started to follow the crowd of men going into The Sharper Image, since my curiosity got the better of me. I bought him a remote control PT Cruiser to add to his collection of toys.

I finally decided to finish my shopping with gifts for my parents and my best friend. I went to Illuminations to for my mother. I decided a chandelier was too expensive, but a neat floating-candle glass caught my eye.

In the bottom of the container were little glass Christmas trees and snowmen, which accented the ornament-shaped candles floating on the top.

After all of that shopping, I gazed at the beautiful Christmas tree that is set up right outside the store from my cozy perch inside the St. Louis Bread Company.

After my relaxing day of shopping, I headed out to face the traffic once again, in hopes that everyone will enjoy the Christmas presents I purchased for them.