Well, it's the first week in December. For those who didn't finish their Christmas shopping weeks ago, it's time to get serious. What to buy, how much to spend, shall I trim the Christmas list while I'm trimming the tree? Time will soon run out for mail order shopping. Decisions, decisions.
Retailers are bracing for the slowest holiday sales in years. This Christmas season sure has a different “feel” about it. Almost all the economic news is bad. Home sales are down, retail sales are down, the stock market is still shaky, unemployment is up, the big three auto makers are in serious trouble, and credit is tight. A general uneasiness seems to have seeped into our very bones. I don't like it.
Some of the cooler heads are saying don't panic until February. I have no idea what is magical about February. I think they simply mean we should give things a while to settle down. I often think of Winston Churchill's words in times like these: “Never flinch, never weary, never despair.”
The fact of the matter is that we may have seen the summit of the great, surging and vibrant modern American economy and it is now in our rearview mirror. I strongly suspect the strong economic growth experienced in recent years was simply “a house of cards,” pumped up with unsound stimuli and built on an unsure foundation.
One of the challenges for thinking men and women is not to be too distracted by all that is going on and all that appears to be going wrong.
Pessimism is a hideous demon that moves with stealth and cunning. If you do not remain “on guard,” it's easy to get the blues.
It is important that you make the most of this Christmas time. You know, it only “comes once a year.” So, hop to it. Even if you operate on a more modest budget this year, whether by choice or by necessity, it can still be just as fun and exciting.
It has been said that “necessity is the mother of invention.” It can also be said that challenging times bring out the best in our creativity.
I'm giving green tomato pickle (chow-chow) as one of my Christmas gifts this year. I made it back in the summer. I'm including in the package a pound of pinto beans and a piece of ham hock. What's not to like about that?
Some on my Christmas list will receive two center slices of country ham along with a pound of beans. I'll throw in some fat trim and ham hock for seasoning and a few dried cayenne peppers. It's hard to eat a whole ham these days, especially when we are on the lookout for salt, fat and cholesterol. But two big slices won't hurt anybody.
Besides, you don't have to tell your doctor.
Still others on my list will receive nice, Portuguese flannel shirts. I bought them last February when they were marked down 75 percent. I wore one of them the other day. It felt like a full-price shirt.
And I will give some poinsettias again this year, but I'll wait until the retailers mark the price down.
Those are just a few of my ideas. I'm sure you will come up with some great ideas of your own. When it comes down to it, it's all about loving the people to whom you are giving the gift.
But among the gift-giving, the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, get-to-gathers with family and friends and all the “stuff” that's going on in our world today, it is important to keep something in mind.
The strategy of the “other” side (and by the other side, I don't mean the Democrats or Republicans. I am simply speaking of those realities defined by light and darkness, good and evil, angels and demons and God and “that old adversary” the devil) is to keep us so focused on the external that we neglect the internal
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