Hooray for the internet during the holidays!

I truly do not know how people shopped every year before the Internet came along. I mean seriously, have you been in the stores lately? The (majority of) employees are rude and don't want to be there, the shelves are either picked through or the merchandise is on the floor or worse, you end up buying someones return without knowing it!

This year while I was not able to afford much for Jonathan so I did ALL of my shopping online. I found that the deals I got were better than going to the store itself and I knew it was in stock and I didn't waste my time. I didn't have to stand in line for a half hour and I managed to get free shipping in most cases. Also have you noticed that there is merchandise you can only get online. I have been searching everywhere (calling of course) for the Pixar collection of short films on DVD and not one store in my very overpopulated area has it in stock. I ended up buying it from Amazon.com. I love Amazon because you can find everything under the sun there. And soon you will be able to buy from Hey, That's Gourmet! on Amazon.com. Dave and I just signed a 3 year contract so I guess we are in it for the long haul.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. I can't imagine what the heck my parents went through when I was little having to go from store to store. And believe me, when I was a kid there was a HUGE amount of floor space taken up by the mounds of wrapped packages for us kids. It was a truly amazing site! I wish some of the pictures still existed of Christmas's past. Our house was quite a site. The electric menorah in the window and a giant fake tree with hundreds of multi-colored twinkle lights in the "game room" just next to the living room. It was very warm and cozy. We had a wood stove that was in the middle of the room. I lived in Hopewell Junction, NY back then. Oh, anyway I'm getting off topic again. LOL! I do that a lot. So my parents (dad and at the time my step-mom) had gone shopping in that mess. Perhaps back then it wasn't like it is today. Maybe it was more fun?

So I am done shopping for this season. I bought Jonathan some very modest gifts. I got him that DVD from Pixar, a root beer making kit, a Camp Rock electric drum set and and an Ugly Doll. Ugly dolls are so cute and all the rage. So the only thing I have to do now is hit Walmart and Big Lots for some stocking stuffers. Tomorrow night Jonathan will be at school for Drop and Shop, an event his school does so parents can go shopping if they dare. I will be going to get those stocking stuffers and some wrapping paper and I am DONE!