AN: I apologize for the length (or lack of) on this one but I'm feeling quite uninspired on this prompt (and pretty tired out from my own Christmas shopping.) Either way, the song is 'It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" and Artie and Sam are going Christmas shopping.
Neither Sam nor Artie particularly cared for shopping in general, so they decided that they would get it all done in one go that year. They hadn't even considered Black Friday that year, although Sam wanted to see if they could use Artie (or more like his chair) as a battering ram to get through to the best deals. Artie vetoed this idea though, so they ended up planning to go one weekend later in December. They both had family members and friends to shop for, and decided that they would have to shop for one another at some other point separately.
Artie had a list carefully made up with everything that he needed to buy, where he could find it, and what price each item was. Sam was winging it, and hoping that he got everything he needed. Either way, they weren't planning on having to come back. As they made their way through their first store, Sam couldn't help but smile a little. He knew it was cheesy but he loved the stores during Christmas with the cheery music playing overhead and all the decorations up. Everyone was rushing about trying to get everything they needed for the holidays and it was just a rather cozy feeling.
Artie managed to get everything on his list in under half an hour. He knew exactly where everything was and didn't have to compare prices or anything. Sam on the other hand, wandered up and down aisles, casually perusing the stocks and grabbing whatever he felt his parents or siblings would want. He had vague ideas of what to get them but had little plan on what he was doing. Artie would wait patiently as he made his decisions without a single complaint. Sam had to admire him for that, since he would have gotten impatient a long time ago.
He threw a box of candy canes in with his purchases and they broke into it before heading for the next store. Walking along the sidewalk, sucking on their candy, they admired all the Christmas displays in the store windows. Holiday music blared from every store and there was just a general atmosphere of the season encompassing them. As Sam was browsing, he kept an eye out for things that Artie might like. While he hadn't thought out his other presents that much, he had some pretty specific ideas on things he was going to get for Artie and didn't want to miss out on anything.
They finished the day off with dinner at Applebee's and celebrated that they had accomplished what they set out to do. Artie had successfully checked everything off his list and Sam had managed to find something for everyone he needed to, despite his lackadaisical approach to it. They were mostly happy that they wouldn't have to do any more shopping that holiday season – except for each other of course, but both didn't mind since they were determined to get each other something perfect and didn't mind the extra effort.