And With One Keystroke My Christmas Shopping is (Mostly) Complete

There's a lot of things I'm behind on this holidays season (decorating, blog-reading, laundry) but fortunately Christmas shopping isn't one of them.  With the exception of my brother Michael (whose body-armor is on back-order) everyone's presents are in the mail, thanks to the magic that is Amazon's free shipping policy.

I could have gone the easy route and bought gift cards for people, but that's not the way my family operates.  We have a long-standing tradition of harassing each other for our respective Christmas lists, which we proceed to ignore so we can buy things that the person would never want, thus forcing them to thank us with faux enthusiasm for an item which will be on eBay by Dec. 26.

Back in medieval times, when I had to go to the mall to shop, I'd come home with a stack of boxes, lay-out the newspaper on an uneven surface (probably wet from the winter boots I'd just kicked off) and use up an entire roll of tape to keep the gifts from bursting out of their package.  Then I'd stick an entire book of stamps in the upper-right corner or take a day off to stand in line at the post office so everyone could get their gifts on time, completely oblivious to the fact I'd forgotten to buy, write, and mail Christmas cards.  In other words, it sucked.

Not this year, baby.  Everything is in transit, and there's still 10 days to go before Christmas (that's what got those lords-a-leaping).  I'm not saying people are getting what they wanted, but they aren't getting crap either.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to put the lights up...

P.S. While researching this entry, I came across a holiday gem from my youth, included below.  Enjoy, and don't be afraid to sing-along (assuming you can sing that badly)

Comments

[MetroDad]

If you were anywhere within a 10-block radius of me right now, I would run over and kiss your feet. That Squier video might be one of the top 10 youtube finds ever! How the fuck is it possible that I still know all the words? If I'm not mistaken, that was back in freaking 1981!

[Mrs. Chicky]

That video made my whole Christmas season a bit more merry. Damn. Where the hell did Squier find that sweater?

Oh yeah, he probably got it from the guy who told him that dancing like a sissy in a video was a great idea.

[p-man]

The faux enthusiasm of the nitwits in the video reminds me of the year I gave my family chocolate covered ants for Christmas. Yea, we're having some fun... we love these bugs. We love you son. Here is a sweater from the Squier collection.

[Kids Furniture Crazy]

Congrats on the shopping! I too use the magic of the internet to do my shopping, and I sometimes wonder how I got anything before the internet was available.

[Wendy Boucher]

Thanks for the memories. That video made my already good day a fair bit brighter.

[Hud]

You rule, Croutonboy. Thank you sooooo much for the video. I'm having a great day now!!! Ah, reminiscing is so fun and low-tech reminiscing even better. And, where the heck did Billy Squier get to? I miss him. And, MetroDad, we NEVER forget the words to the best. I remember them all too. As for p-man's "faux enthusiasm", I think it's genuine. Totally. :-)

[Cliff]

love, love, love, love Billy.

Thank you ever so much.

Everything Santa ordered for the kid ended up being backordered, so this elf is frantically bidding on ebay and will have to sell the kid to pay for the shipping costs.

Ah, the holidays.

[Kara]

hey, woops! I just commented as my husband. He says hi.

[misfithausfrau]

That was hilarious!

I'm with you on the internet shopping. I have been doing more than 75% of my shopping online for years now. I'd like to think it makes me a more pleasant being during the holidays. My husband may beg to differ.

[whit]

Whatever happened to Billy Squier? I loved that guy.