The JC Dollar Store

(Uncle Tommy has been overwhelmed with his phone call from Santa program, so our Uncle Tommy Archivist dug into the Uncle Tommy archives and found a favorite Christmas Story.) 

One Christmas Eve my wife called me at work and said we needed more wrapping paper and could I stop on the way home and get some.  “Sure,” I said, and I stopped at the local Dollar Store that afternoon on the way home.  (We were apparently OK with our supply of tape, bows and little name tags, so I didn’t need to get any of those.) This was a last minute purchase on Christmas Eve but it was really a no pressure purchase since it was just wrapping paper. So I was not upset when I realized the check-out line was moving extremely slowly.  When I finally reached the checkout, the clerk told me the reason for the delay. “We ran out of pennies,” she explained.  I, still being in good spirits and wanting to give her something clever to share with and perhaps amuse her family at their Christmas dinner table the next day and perhaps future Christmases, said with a smile, “That would be like the JC Penney Store running out of dollars.” Well, she didn’t get it. No laugh, no smile, no nothing.  So, I’m guessing that she did not share that story with her family.

I, of course, have shared the story with my family every Christmas.  And now, you can share it with yours.