Second Annual Christmas Gift Guide

Because of the boffo response to last year’s Christmas column... You remember, it was a holiday shopping guide advising readers where to go on Christmas morning for that special sportspersonhood Christmas present. I don’t think I’m going too far when I say it was a groundbreaking Christmas morning shopping exposé. The Box went forth into the world, by car and on foot, to scout locations for your Christmas morning shopping spree.

I started with a visit to Walgreens, then CVS/Pharmacy, and as grand finale, finished in a store that made shopping for presents on Christmas morning mainstream and, more to the point, convenient. It’s the store you pull into when you’re six blocks away from grandma’s house and the present bag is empty. It’s a commercial establishment that is the very definition of desperate Christmas-morning shopping. Always there, always ready to serve, still champion, known in every corner of our great nation — I’m talking about 7-Eleven Christmas-morning shopping! Feel the goodness.

The Box is pleased to announce the Christmas-morning sportspersonhood present column is bigger and better this year, and I’m putting it on the street an incredible 10 days before Christmas! This will allow you time enough to buy that special sportspersonhood gift from any ravaged Sudanese village, Bangkok brothel, Amazon backwater swamp — actually, from any point on the planet — and have that present in your hands in time for Christmas-morning tears and cheers. Think little kids in jammies jumping up and down ’neath a lavishly decorated Yule Tree.

But, you won’t do that. You’ll wait until Christmas morning like always. So, lets review the rules: you can’t be picky, you can’t care about price, you can’t flinch when a loved one opens your present and emits a loud, long sigh. Presents have to be for adults and have to have a connection to sports. No booze. No neckties. No gift cards.

The first question to ask is, what’s new at Walgreens? Smart question because there’s always something new at Walgreens. This year, there are Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone Walgreens apps. I have downloaded the free iPhone version.

Walgreens’ opening screen has nine icons, I tap on Gift Ideas and read that Walgreens has come up with some great gift ideas so I wouldn’t have to. This is good. This is what we need. I tap on Browse Now and then tap on Fitness. Ah, yes, here is the GoFit Ultimate 15lb. Rubber Medicine Ball, and it’s on sale, $44.99. This goes on the to-do list.

Here’s a Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Eau De Toilette Spray, $80. Skip. Here’s the Sterling seven-foot Natural Palm Tree, $169.99. Skip, but with regret. I tap around until I find the Nova GetGo Rolling Walker. It’s on sale for $89.99. Looks to be a fine, high-quality four-wheel walker; hand breaks are an option, it comes with the big six-inch tires, and it weighs in at 13½ pounds. Obviously, this is their downhill-racing model and goes on the list.

I open the CVS/Pharmacy app and tap around to Weekly Ads, specifically ads for their store at 645 Market Street. First ad is for Butterscotch Push Dog. There’s a photo of a stuffed dog with a big red nose. Skip. Like the Fischer-Price Medical Kit for $14.99. Skip. Look at the Emerson Binoculars, on sale for $9.99, perfect for a person who wants to be a birder but will never go birding. Goes to the top of the list.

The only app that wasn’t free was the 7-Eleven app, which seems fair, they’ve been the leader in Christmas-morning shopping for as long as I can remember. The iTunes store has three 7-Eleven apps to pick from. Naturally, I went with the most expensive, desiring quality above all, and purchased I Want Go to 7-11, which was released October 19 of this year by WangYu Digital Technology.

Most happily, Wang’s app lists 11 7-Elevens in downtown San Diego, five are on Broadway or a few footsteps away. The one on Second Avenue has the following amenities: an ATM, an audio-enabled ATM, said items accompanied by wings and pizza for your dining needs. The one on Fifth Avenue has all the above plus check cashing, bill payment, and money transfers. Wang’s app lists 7-Eleven attributes at each 7-Eleven store and shows lots of red pins on a Google map, too. Pretty cool.

Some may quibble that this 99-cent app is feature poor. Not so, pilgrim. If you’re shopping in a 7-Eleven on Christmas morning, you’ve reached a level of desperation where it doesn’t matter what’s inside a 7-Eleven; you don’t need to know that, you’re going to buy what they have.

No worries.