There are only 20 days left until Christmas!!

Have you shopped yet? What did you buy me?

Well, I want a GPS, and a new video camera, a Wii, I need a new stereo for my car, and I could use a new storm parka, too.

What's that? We're going cheap this year? Oh, poop.



We're a year into the recession now. People may have put on a brave face last year and still shopped for the holidays, but this year there's a noticeable difference. You all know I work in retail. I was fortunate to be hired last year as a 'seasonal employee', and primarily by working my ass off, I managed to make the permanent list. (and who knew how necessary that was going to be this year?)

I've not been at this a long time, but even I can tell there's a difference from last season. The store has been busy, but not crazy. Weeknights, the store is dead. Budget is an interesting thing in retail; every day we have a sales goal. LL Bean might be doing better than other chains, but we're still not doing that great.

I read that over Thanksgiving weekend, retail sales were up slightly nationally over last year. Except in Massachusetts; sales were down 5%. We don't know if people are waiting, buying less, or just not buying at all.

Which brings me to our own personal budget. How much do you spend on Christmas in an average year? How much are you spending this year? In the past, we've often been extravagant with our seasonal purchases. We tend not to do big things throughout the year, so December is our "big bang". But not this year.

I made a point of buying an awful lot of stuff at the store this year (with my discount.) I've been really careful not to use the credit cards wherever possible. (I did twice, but that's it.) And those two credit card purchases were offset by days at the store. I even commented to one of my co-workers that I spent every penny I made one day....but at least I broke even.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

But finally, there's maybe a bigger indicator of how the budget is going in your neck of the woods. Does your hometown have some kind of annual holiday display, event, or other such thing? How did it go this year?

The City of Waltham (MA) has an enormous town green, like many places in New England do. Ever since we moved here, the city has lit many of the trees and had a big evening on the Friday after Thanksgiving with music, Santa, some booths of wares and giveaways, and other such things. It's usually quite festive.

This year, the Mayor cancelled everything. Oh, we had a brief "tree lighting" last night, but it was just a single 8-footer under the gazebo. The school choir sang four carols, a kid threw the switch, and we all went home.