rush, rush, rush

Everyone is in such a rush to get ready for the holidays. I went to the mall on Saturday and it was a nightmare. First, I had to park like eighteen miles from the entrance. Then, after my trek across the parking lot, for which I should have packed a snack or at least a bottle of water, the people inside were so stressed and hurried. They rushed past me like I was standing still. The whole experience was a blur of anxiety and pressure. Believe it or not, I left without buying a single thing. It's unlike me, I know, but I just couldn't stand that frenetic energy for a minute longer.

On the hike back to my car, I decided to go downtown and see what the smaller shops had to offer. After twenty minutes of wasting precious gasoline, and getting flipped off by a guy who front parked into a space I was clearly backing into, it was clear I wouldn't find a parking spot anywhere close to the shopping district. On the way home, I made up my mind: mail order shopping is the way to go. Okay, so maybe I'm more than a little bit biased, but I look at it this way: either you curl up on the sofa with a stack of freshly minted catalogs or you hang out at the computer surfing for cool new stuff. Either one beats the heck out of fighting the crowds. Plus, with gas prices the way they are, who needs to be driving from store to store or mall to mall when all it takes is a click of the mouse to visit the same stores?

The season is busy enough without adding extra aggravation. Shopping at home is relaxing. No crowds. No crying children. No salespeople talking on their cell phones and working harder at avoiding making eye contact with you than they do at actually selling products. No piped in music with canned versions of songs you used to love that somehow now seem to grate on your very last nerve. Instead, you can put on the music you want and shop in your PJs.

Of course, you have to order a bit earlier - planning is key, especially if you want to pay only standard shipping. Still, for my money, paying expedited shipping is worth not having to go to the mall or drive around downtown competing for metered spaces that the meter readers watch like hawks at this time of year. Plus, most online stores offer gift wrapping now and they'll ship everything directly to the person you're buying for. So you even save a trip to the post office – we won't go into how much I hate going there.

Between Saturday night and Sunday, I got a lot of my shopping done. And it's not even Thanksgiving yet. It's so unlike me to be prepared this early that when I told my sister, who is always way ahead of the holiday curve, her jaw dropped and she looked at me like I had three heads. I think I'm going to like my new tradition.

I'll see you next week. In the meantime, I strongly recommend relaxing with a stack of catalogs and/or pointing and clicking your way to a less stressful holiday.