Down the stretch they come

I finished my Christmas shopping yesterday. This weekend is the last time you can get the gifts that you really want to give your friends and family. Over the next four and a half days, the ideas you had get thrown out the window and you get what's left. Every Christmas eve a local TV station will have a news story about a group of guys that wait until Christmas eve to start and finish their shopping. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to shop that way. What's on the shelf is what they have, you don't have to ask, "do you have this in blue?" they don't. Basically your are picking out something that someone will have to return.

Being at the mall on the last weekend before Christmas is always a total experience. From the time you settle into traffic approaching the mall, finding a parking spot, staying on the right side of the sidewalk (do shoppers in England and Ireland stay on the left?) Looking in a store to see if there is room for you to walk around or do you just move on. Christmas shopping is the best.

Why is Santa still at the mall? Really, think about this for a second. You've got all the toys bought and hid away back home and two days before Christmas little Johnny tells Santa he has changed his mind. Santa has been at the mall since early November, you can explain to your kids that Santa needs to be at the North Pole these last few days making sure everything is ready to go.

So enjoy yourself today at the mall as I stay home and watch football. Be careful, be happy and remember, just because there are long lines at the food court they haven't changed the menu, it's still the same fast food as before. Fa la la la la, la la la laaaa

Bud, this clip was for you, Merry Christmas