Constanze was in the same boat. She had no one to buy gifts for, no one special anyway. But she still went out to buy something for the food and toy drives the church was running that year. If she had no one to exchange with then she would make sure a family was fed and a child woke up to a brand new toy.
Perhaps five families, actually. She had to admit, she had gone a little overboard. But what was the price of a new train set compared to the smiles of a child?
With her many bags in tow (she had lost count, not good) she heaved her way through the steady growing crowd. A part of her felt a little irritated that no one seemed to care they were running into her, while Constanze made sure to apologize to each and every person she bumped into.
Finally having had enough of it for now, she took a seat at a bench just to get a break from the crowd, offering a holiday worthy smile to the man who sat at one end. She set out her bags and counted to make sure it was somewhere close to what she was sure it had been and then sighed with relief when she could sit back for a moment. "The crowd is getting a little out of hand, I think," she said, her accent perhaps setting her out from the usual 'American'. Even after years of living there she hadn't lost her German heritage, and she promised she never would.