Ok, now it's Christmas season.

I bought a laptop from Best Buy at 6 am on "Black Friday" several years ago.  I saved a couple hundred bucks so it seemed worth it.  Now most of the stores open at 5 am, or even midnight the night before.  If I was going to go I think I'd go at 3 am.  I figure the crowds who went at midnight are long gone, and the people who go at sunrise aren't there yet.

Yeah this is mostly sarcastic, but I did entertain the notion.  I'm always up at 3 am anyway.  But the point I'm getting at is this: My one and only goal this holiday season is to not once step foot inside a mall.  Every year I end up panicking and going to one just before Christmas to try to find some last minute ideas.  And every year it's terrible and there's nothing there I ever want to buy.  So this year I'm not doing it.  No matter what.

And on a somewhat random but slightly related note: since I started hearing Christmas music and seeing decorations in stores the day after Halloween, I'm going to create the 55 day advent calender that begins November 1st.  Patent pending.