Among the Christmas light necklaces, Santa sweaters and jingle bell earrings, shoppers search for bargains. With only three weeks left until Christmas, time runs short to find the perfect gift; the bustle begins.

The first day after Thanksgiving, heralds the beginning of Christmas and shopping season. Most stores opened hours before normal schedule, such as JC Penny and Kohls opened at 4 A.M.

Although stores are not as crowded as Black Friday, a Target clerk, who wishes to remain anonymous, believes Riverpark shopping center begins their peak of customers and the parking lot appears to be a sea of cars, at 10:30 A.M.

“Though the mornings are busy the afternoons are always busier,” the Target clerk said. “Many people see a movie or grab a bite to eat and then shop later in the afternoon.”

Due to the increase of shoppers during the holiday season, employees of the Fashion Fair mall must park at Fresno State and take a charter bus to their stores, to make more parking spaces available.

For tired customers, some stores offer free chauffeur services driven by employees wearing Santa hats and driving golf carts.

Another caveat for this hectic shopping season is germs spreading among customers. Coughing children, runny noses and headaches prove the theory that large crowds do spread sickness through the unaware shoppers, causing the medicine isle to be more crowded than the toy aisle.

The electronics store, Best Buy, blares holiday music, while the shouting and screaming of kids and the hum of mono-toned sale clerks ring over the advertisements, blasting across the store. People clutching iPods, cameras and the latest release DVDs stand tensely in the line that wraps around the store.

Claire’s, the jewelry and novelty store for pre-teen girls, overflows with mothers and girls all packed into the small shop, talking and browsing through the merchandise.

An angry women shouts at her daughter arguing about the necessity of a Hannah Montana wig. Another lady mutters rudely under her breath as a little girl pushes past her.

I watched thousands shop across Fresno, myself included, in the constant search to find everyone the “perfect gift”. However, throughout those several hours I only saw one selfless act. A man waiting to purchase CDs and DVDs forfeits his place in line for an old lady holding a stack of computer paper.

It seems this time of year, stress for gifts often blinds reality. The majority claim to be filled with Christmas spirit, simply by wearing green and red and wearing a santa hat, yet do not realize how they are acting.

When I go Christmas shopping this weekend, I hope I do not put all my emphasis into presents and forget about the crowds of people around me.