It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...traffic that is. This weekend I was on Baltimore Pike in Springfield and I realized Christmas shopping has already started! Yes, the shoppers were out, ready to put a dent in their holiday shopping. Drivers were nudging their cars in without using blinkers, going crazy at Best Buy, and coming out of Kohl's carrying huge bags.

Fortunately, I didn't go down as far as the mall, I suspect it was just as bad down there. Even if the rest of the mall isn't too busy, Target is mobbed!

Personally, I was out doing some last minute wedding shopping (my daughter is getting married this winter, not doing any Christmas shopping, but I could tell when I stopped for lunch and saw the Hallmark bags filled with wrapping paper that people are getting into the swing of the holidays. (Those long rolls of wrapping paper are dead giveaways!)

My personal Christmas shopping? I do a lot of it online. And I never leave home for my brick and mortar shopping without a specific plan for exactly where I am going and knowing why I am heading to each store. And like many other Americans, I am leaving my plastic at home--no credit card bills!

But as important as hitting the sales is saving on gas and saving my sanity by spending as little time in stores at Christmas as possible. And as little time on Baltimore Pike!

So save your sanity, stay home and boot up your computer to shop. I hate to take the business away from the local stores but when I weigh the choice between sanity and being stuck in Baltimore Pike traffic, I'll take sanity any day!