The story of the 2 Chairs

Once upon a time, this past Thanksgiving, the family was sitting around my dining room table after we ate with the newspaper sales adds spread all over like a table cloth. Son-in-law, Jeff, opened up the Big Lots store add and admired a "set" of walnut leather tub chairs. He got so excited and said he would really like to put them in his New Office, since he recently got a Big promotion and is trying to decorate his new office. Jeff is usually not a person to mention that he wants things and I knew this must be something very dear to his heart. My wheels starting spinning in my head of what he will be getting for Christmas from us. And the price was right.
Fast forward to 7am the day after Thanksgiving.....I went to Big Lots in search of the chairs. I spoke to the furniture guy letting him know that I wanted to buy the chairs but I could only fit one in my van and in order to use the $10 coupon that was in the paper, you had to use it only on the following Sunday. The guy said there were plenty of the chairs in the storage room and that would work. I told him I would be back, first thing on Sunday to buy the other chair. When I got home with the chair, I had this idea that we would wrap it up to look like a present and sit our small tree on top. We would wait until all the gifts were passed out and then tell Jeff that his gift was "under the tree". And have the second chair in another room.
So, I go to Big Lots to buy the second chair and there were NO walnut leather tub chairs to be found in that store. My heart sunk. The furniture guy looked in his computer to see if any other stores around had any. He even made a phone call. There were none to be had. He said he had no idea if they would be getting any more before or after Christmas. So, I didn't give up hope. I did a lot of praying and even stretched my hand towards Big Lots every time I passed it and prayed for another chair to appear. (I'm crazy like that). I figured if I couldn't find another chair, I could always return the one chair and get Jeff shirts and ties.
Fast forward to Thursday, Dec. 9....I was on my lunch hour and decided to run in another Big Lots near my work. I spoke to the "Angel" lady in the furniture department and told her my story and how I need to find another chair. She immediately started making phone calls to other Big Lot stores and looking in her computer found that 2 towns had them. The closest Big Lots that had another one was 56 miles away. She got the guy on the phone and told him of my desperation to find another chair. He said he had One and is only suppose to hold it for 24 hours but will hold it until the following Wednesday. Thank you Brian at the Oakbrook, IL., Big Lots! So, hubby and I decided to drive out there on Friday night after work to pick the chair up. We were about 20 miles down the road and I called Brian at Big Lots to let him know we were on our way. Well, Brian was not working that night and No one at the store could find the chair he put aside for me, after holding on the line for 15 min....So...I turned around and didn't go, that night. I did give the guy my phone number for Brian to call me. Well, the next night, I called to see if Brian was working and I was so happy when he answered my call. He knew who I was and said YES, come on out, the chair is there. I was never so happy.
We got there and paid and loaded up the chair. A big lesson was learned from this. Buy it when it's available. Sometimes a coupon is not worth it.
Fast forward Christmas Eve....After all the presents were handed out, I told Jeff I needed him to go get the gift that I left in the other room, which was the unwrapped chair. He went to get it and yelled "I can't believe this" he was so surprised and excited. He still didn't know he had another waiting wrapped under the tree. So he came back in the room where everyone was opening their gifts and I finally told him "your other present is under the tree"....he saw the size of the box and knew it was the other chair. I got lots of hugs from him afterwards and I felt like my prayers were answered.
And they all lived happily ever after......
The end