I've come to discover that one of the things I most dislike about the holiday season isn't specific to it, but is rather something I loathe year-round that gets exacerbated by the holidays.

Dawdlers.

Here's an example. This afternoon I was working my way from the Copley Place mall to the Prudential mall. The two are connected by a walkway above Huntington Avenue. The walkway is of medium (and usually plentiful) width, with the columns that support the walkway blocking off the middle every so often. This creates the usual left and right lanes, with some opportunities for passing in the middle.

Today I got blocked by a quartet of dawdlers who were strung out across 2/3 of the width of the walkway. Oncoming pedestrians made access to the middle impossible. I had to cut my stride way down (I tend to have an even longer stride in malls when I'm alone, as I tend to view shopping in such a fashion as something of a military exercise that must be completed post haste) and bide my time, growing more irritated with each passing second. Finally, I was able to break through a gap, hold up for a second behind another pair of dawdlers, and break clear.

Only to be held up at the doors into the Prudential mall by teen dawdlers. Blast! They were more easily circumvented, but still an added annoyance.

As it turns out, I made my way to the intended store, nosed around, picked something out, waited to pay for it, actually paid for it, put it in my backpack, and was leaving the store when the original foursome strolled by.

As you may have surmised, I'm not much of one for window shopping or people watching.

In other holiday news, the wife raised a good point today when she voiced a growing frustration with having to say "Happy Holidays" when talking to people of indeterminate holiday practice. Given that it's not always easy to ask what holiday is most appropriate, she's left with the most general blandishment, which gets old after the hundredth time saying it in a day (the perils of doing a lot of work over the phone).

So we tried to come up with something more appropriate, or at least more accurate. Sarah was good enough to fix my suggestion, "Felicitous Gift-Giving Occasion," improving it to "Joyous Gift-Giving Occasion." I have to admit that I liked using felicitous, given that it (a) sounds like something the Victorians ginned up, and (b) said correctly, there's a suggestion of mockery that can't be proven.

I'm trying to come up with something that better suggests the crass commerical aspect of the season, but am only making the thing longer. "Joyous Consumptionary Spending Period," for example, sounds like a holiday message penned by the Fed.

Anyway, suggestions along this line are more than welcome. I'll even post them on Christmas to give us all a little holiday cheer (assuming I can log on from Maine).