Preparations

I used to love Christmas shopping. But as I get older and crankier, I have found it's become harder to get excited about driving two hours to get to the nearest mall then schlep around the mall and end up buying something, anything, just so I wouldn't feel like I wasted the four hour round trip. And this year, when I found myself with too much book to write and not enough month to write it my panic over Christmas shopping grew. I caught myself hyperventilating and worrying and stressing. I know Christmas is not about presents, but at the same time I know that I would feel like Scrooge if Christmas came and there was nothing under the tree. Especially with two granddaughters coming up to Nana and Papa's place for Christmas. But how? And when? And then, as I was sending an e-mail to my sister, laying out my dilemma, the dusty cogs in my brain began turning. Hmm....... Laptop. Internet access. PayPal. It all came together in a moment of clarity. I realized I was thinking too small. Why limit myself to shopping in The City, when I had the entire world, literally in my lap.I had choices, I had options and I had credit cards!Google searches became my friends. Shopping carts, easy to load up and pay for. I could browse at my leisure, discover items I would never have found driving around the city. And, even better, I didn't need to dress up. I could shop in my p.j.'s drinking tea and eating cookies. Does it get any better than that? I could work on my book and when I needed a break, go shopping. I got done my shopping in record time and as long as Canada Post does it's part, I'm set! And, even better, I love Christmas shopping again. Carolyne Aarsen.