Christmas shopping

This year I had a great time shopping for Christmas gifts. I started just after Thannkgiving, and bought most things online, like books, electronics, Mr. Potato Heads, etc. I spent about 4 hours finishing up my shopping the week before Christmas, and I only had to run in to the mall to grab a gift certificate for my nephew. In general I think gift certificates are the most boring and thoughtless gifts you can give, short of "here's some money" but he's of an age where he's into clothes and he really would rather pick them out himself, which is understandable. Unlike last year, all my purchases arrived well before Christmas Eve, mainly because I allowed plenty of time for delivery. Historically I've been a procrastinator when it comes to shopping, mainly because I have usually been traveling right up until the holidays, but probably a little for the challenge of getting good gifts right at the last minute. What I discovered is that you want to buy good gifts, cheaply, without a lot time spent of shopping, but you can only do two of the three. You can get good gifts quickly if you're willing to spend a lot of money. You can get good gifts cheaply if you're willing to spend a lot of time searching the stores. Or you can always get crappy gifts cheaply and quickly by stopping at the local gas station.

I had always envied those people who were able to shop all year long and hide things away. But I realized that in a way that's what I am doing when I jot down gift ideas, in my private Amazon wish list, or links saved in my Internet Explorer Favorites, or in a little text file I have in Outlook. I just wait until the Christmas season to do the purchasing. I think I've finally got a pretty good system down. Now to get around to Christmas Cards before it's too late.