It was only the middle of October but I was already thrilled about Christmas being only two in half months away. I could not wait until we got our Christmas tree and the fresh scent of pine filled our house. I was only four, but had already figured out Christmas was my favorite holiday of the year. I loved to wake everyone up early in the morning to go open our gifts, before the sun had even started to peek over the horizon. I would run into each of my brothers' room hitting and shaking them until my persistence paid off and they would drag them selves out of bed, just to make me happy.
             Being only October, the Christmas rush had not yet begun, so my mom decided to try and beat it and get our shopping done early. One Saturday morning my mom and I went to the mall to shop for my brothers and my dad. We were a store shopping for my brother when I saw a bright yellow advertising sign hanging from the ceiling. The sign was an advertisement for Payless, which was on the opposite end of the mall from where we were. On the sign, there were the coolest slippers I had ever seen. The slippers had Bert and Ernie on them. The left slipper had Bert's head sticking up at the toe and the right slipper had Ernie's head sticking up at the toe. The slippers themselves were red and blue, which made them even greater, because those are my two favorite colors. As soon as I saw these breathtaking shoes I tugged on my mothers' sleeve and pointed at the sign. Without a slight bit of interest, she just glanced at the sign and went back to what she was looking at. I kept my eye on that sign for the entire time we were in the store, not acknowledging a word my mom said to me. When we were finally checking out, my mom said we needed to go get some shoes for my brother, Brian. I knew Payless would not have any shoes Brian would want, but I suggested it any way. To my surprise my mother agreed and we walked across the mall to ...