Christmas Rambling

At this point in the season, my resolve to rein in my inner Grinch and present a Holly Jolly Christmas attitude to one and all is beginning to slip just a little. OK, a lot. Why doesn't Christmas just get here and be done with it???

On the other hand, Amazon.com is holding one of Jay's presents until the last possible shipping date to get it here by December 24. And, that's getting on my last nerve.

Several years ago, I discovered, to my eternal delight, that I could do all my Christmas shopping on-line, and avoid the malls and the crowds altogether. All I had to do was start early enough. I got it down to a science, ordering presents, requesting that they be wrapped, and sent to the people I bought them for. That way, I didn't even have to go to the Post Office laden with boxes.

Last year, I refined it even further and send everyone gift cards from places I knew they liked to shop, leaning heavily toward Amazon.com. We're all avid readers, so that's always a good choice, and you can get almost everything else through them, too, and I can collect enough points to receive a gift certificate of my own from them about twice a year. How bad could that be? Seems like a win-win situation to me.

This year, I'm still ordering from Amazon.com, but I am not sending gift cards to any of the stores I usually frequent on line. Who knows if they will even be in business by January? I have also managed, for the first time ever, to adhere strictly to my budget. I have always been notorious for overdoing things until the last few years. But, I think I have finally pared down as far as I can and still give anyone presents at all. You might say I've hit rock bottom.

But I have hope that things will begin to get better - not immediately, but I think we'll start noticing by next Christmas that the economy, like me, has hit rock bottom and is beginning to trend upward instead of down.

Why? Because it simply has to.