in-store shopping day of the year, not Christmas Eve. I have no desire to prove that theory though...I went out ONCE on Christmas Eve, to JC Penney at the mall, to get a single present (a shirt/tie combo for Dad). Never. Again.
I had planned to go to Heinen's for my last few ingredients. Heinen's is the slightly more upscale grocery store in the area and has a lot of very nice prepared foods...which might be why the parking lot was full and cars were circling. Heinen's is also known for having parking lots with one way aisles, which made the congestion even worse. After circling once, I decided Meijer was good enough for me.