I've always loved the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping. When I lived in Chicago, I reveled in it: the crowds, the lights, the sounds, the music, the decorations -- I loved it all. And, finding the perfect, unique, unexpected gift for everyone was my goal: shopping is my favorite sport, and Christmas shopping was my Super Bowl. It was part spectacle, part achievement, part celebration, and part performance.
In the mid-to-late 1990s, I discovered catalog shopping, but it only added to my repertoire, offering me access to heaps of unique things I couldn't find in stores, but it never replaced the fun of hitting the mall or shopping on Michigan Avenue.
When I was an academic-in-training living in Massachusetts and Atlanta, Christmas shopping lost a bit of its magic for me -- mostly because I had a far smaller budget. But I returned to it in force a few years ago. I started to do some online shopping, but most of my Christmas shopping was still done in person.
Then things changed again.
Moving to the godforsaken confederate wilderness changed my holiday shopping habits: my favorite stores were no longer an el ride away. Being location-challenged, plus bored at my job and engaged to a guy who loves books more than anything else led me to do the bulk of my shopping online in 2007. I did a bit more of it online in 2008, and much of it online in 2009.
This year, I've done it ALL online, and so has J. -- so much so that we canceled our planned 2-day trip to Atlanta this weekend -- a trip designed for shopping. I didn't even see it coming -- I just realized a few days ago that my shopping was almost done, and yet I hadn't set foot in a mall since Thanksgiving weekend. And, unlike in years past, I've used a real variety of retailers. Amazon still fulfills the bulk of my list, and that's due in part to my recipients' love of books, music and DVDs, and in part to the fact that Amazon Prime makes it cheap and simple. But I've also purchased online from 5 or so brick retailers (Macy's, JC Penney, Godiva chocolate) as well as ebay and a handful of online-only sites.
Since we ship many of our gifts it's just easier to do that online, especially to the UK. But, mostly, I think it's just a new way of life. I miss the clamor and craziness a little bit -- but not enough to jump back into it here and now. I am confident that we'll get back to some in-person Christmas shopping when we have a child and/or when we move out of the wilderness. And, in the interest of full disclosure, you should know that it's our tradition to shop for stocking stuffers early in the morning on Christmas Eve (but I got most of mine already!).
I've been interested to watch my friends and contacts on Facebook: several have announced gleefully that they did all their holiday shopping without leaving their homes. Others have been lamenting multiple trips to the mall (and I've secretly wondered why they didn't just log on).
Did you do your holiday shopping online? Is it a revolution, or just a phase?
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