Family is Forever

Chapter 48- shopping trip

Bit of a filler chapter sorry 😐

Ali never really enjoyed shopping. For her it was often something she had to do at a supermarket in a rush with not enough money when she lived with her mum. Every time Klaudia broke up with someone, which was quite often, she would spend weeks in bed, nothing in the fridge, no money. But today Ali was excited. She had been into the city centre a few times before, to get clothes with Zosia and with both Zosia and Ollie to get a few new things for their house as well as Klaudia's. But she always loved spending time with Elsie, especially not at the eating disorders clinic."So what do we need?" Ali asked Elsie. "Well.. I need a present for each of my sisters and my parents, plus something for Gran and Grandpa,  I'm planning to get a little something for each of the girls at Day treatment but I'm not sure what yet. And something for the clinicians too. And I'll get something for you...but not today. Oh and as you know Abby is getting discharged from day treatment soon so I got some money from everyone as you know. I was thinking we could  buy  her a charm for that beautiful bracelet she wears" She smiled "who do you need to buy for?"
"Well...Zosia and Ollie, my mama, uncle Guy I guess, although I have no idea what to get him. If I can find anything suitable and flat I'll send it to my babcia and dziadek- my grandparents in Poland. I'll get a little thing for the girls at Day treatment and clinicians too. And maybe some stickers and stuff. I want to make my own  Christmas cards to send. I'll get something for family friends Colette and her daughter Ela too. That's all really- and something for you obviously- but not today. And maybe something for Mrs Yates from school because she's so helpful with schoolwork and stuff." They went to the Disney Store first where Elsie got a Queen Elsa dress for her younger sister Rose. "She'll love that." Ali laughed. Although frozen had been out for years and years Rose was obsessed. Always singing 'let it go!' Next they went to a jewellery shop. Elsie got a pair of earrings shaped like hearts for her sister Florrie. Ali found a necklace with an angel wing charm on it. "I should get this for Zosia" she said smiling "her mother, my aunt used to make these wonderful polish biscuits called crusciki or angel wings. I don't know why they were called that. This will be perfect to give Zosh for Christmas." She also found a bracelet with a little star charm on she picked it up. "Gwiazdka" she whispered. "Pardon?" Elsie looked at her friend "Gwiazdka, it means Christmas star. They're really important in our Christmas traditions. We can't start the Christmas Eve meal until we see the first Christmas start, gwiazdka, in the sky. I don't know what we're meant to do if it's cloudy." She laughed. " I might give her the angel wing necklace early. Next weekend It will be six months since I've lived with Zosia and Ollie. It only seems like two minutes." She smiled.
" I can't believe I've only known you for 3 months!" Elsie said "it feels like it's been forever."
"My dziadek always used to say that before we were born our families were much bigger. God put us in families and we have to go out and find the rest of our families and when you find someone you kind of 'click' with that's part of the family. Then Babcia would ask where he found that in the Bible and mutter a Hail Mary. I guess in dziadeks world we're sisters." Ali looked at Elsie and she laughed.
"Hey look here's the charms." Ali was looking at a different counter. "Hello can I help you?"
A shop assistant asked Ali. Elsie answered "were looking for a charm for our friend, she loves to dance, do you have any dance charms?" The shop assistant started to look through the draws. "There's this one" it was a heart charm that said dance in swirly letter in the middle. "She already has that one, are there any others?" Elsie asked. The shop assistant pulled out another one. It looked like a tiny silver pointe shoe. "It's perfect!" Ali smiled. With the money Elsie had collected from the other girls at the clinic they almost had enough for the charm. They both got an extra few pounds out and bought the charm and the Christmas presents.
"Lets go to Lush!" Elsie smiled.
"Lush?" Ali asked. Elsie showed her where it was and the smell slightly overpowered her. Elsie got a 'Christmas Party' gift set for her sister Megsie. Elsie and Ali decided that rather than getting a present each for he girls at Day treatment they would each get them something from Lush. They tried to match The product to the person they were getting it for. For example getting the comforter bubble bar for Sue because she's always comforting people. And razzle-dazzle bath oil for Abby since she wants to be a professional dancer. They popped into the toyshop next and Ali chose a doll for Ela. "Mama, Colette, Ollie and Guy- I never know what to get men." Ali mused. "My dads easy to buy for- I just go on vista print and make him a calendar with loads of photos of us on it and he loves it."
"Yeah.. I'm not sure that would work for uncle guy!" They went to a department store and Ali got some perfume for her mother and soap bags for Guy and Ollie. A slick black one for Guy and one shaped like a football pitch for Ollie. Elsie got some perfume for her mum too. They finished off in a huge independent craft and stationery shop. "You can find some really obscure things here." Elsie smiled. Ali looked around. She looked at the notebooks, she found one that said my very organised notebook and thought it would be perfect for Colette if she got some pens to go with it. She wanted to find something for Ollie too, although she had got him a wash bag she had two things for Zosia so she wanted something else for Ollie. She found a notbpook that said 70's laptop and she thought Ollie would find that entertaining. She got two little boxes of pens for them too. She went to look at the craft stuff further back. She picked up some card blanks, a stamp that said merry Christmas is swirly letters and some puffy stickers. Just as she was about to go and pay she saw something which surprised her. A sign that said Polska- which means Polish. She looked over at that shelf and found something perfect Łatwy ścieg krzyżykowy, Dobry dla początkujących. Easy cross stitch, perfect for beginners. It just said Wesołych Swiat- merry Christmas and was perfect for her to do then send to Babcia. Ali payed then hugged Elsie. "Thanks Els. I've had such a wonderful day."