Presidents Day, like most American holidays, is a celebration of shopping. But unlike holidays such as Christmas or Thanksgiving, where the commercial spirit is a corruption of the holiday's true purpose, Presidents Day honors a man who truly loved to shop: George Washington.

Washington was a world class shopper. Of course, he couldn’t ride his horse over to Walmart, and there was no Amazon Prime to deliver. Instead, Washington ran an account with a London merchant who sold his tobacco and then used the proceeds to buy the things he wanted. Washington placed his orders and then waited, sometimes up to a year, for his goods to arrive.

Despite the inconvenience, Washington was a regular customer. He bought a Macy’s worth of hats, shirts, coats, gloves, breeches, stockings and shoes and enough furniture, home decorations, cups, saucers, plates and glasses to rival an IKEA.

On one 1760 spree alone, Washington bought dozens of items, including 12 “beer and cyder glasses," 18 punch glasses, 24 wine glasses, six milk jugs and six china mugs. Plus, to catch all that liquid on the other end after drinking, “1 dozen stone chamber pots.”