It’s Time to Start Thinking About Holiday Gifts

My Halloween decorations are staying in the box this year. To be honest, they didn’t make it out of the box last year either. My Halloween spirit has officially been bludgeoned to death by teenagers who no longer care and a persistent October fear of the Northern California wildfires. And speaking of fear, isn’t there more than enough of that going around? Maybe all of us can pretend that Halloween isn’t even happening this year?

Which can only mean that it’s time for me to start decorating for the winter holidays, whether my family likes it or not, especially because we’ll be staying put for the first time since I can remember.

As Robert Roy Britt writes in Elemental, “Everyone needs a break from all the social separation, sure. But traveling to large family gatherings is a surefire way to worsen the pandemic, scientists say.” Britt also recommends starting new traditions this holiday season. If your family and friends regularly exchange gifts during the winter holidays, may I suggest that one of those new traditions be trying to buy gifts at places that aren’t Amazon? As Brian Merchant wrote in OneZero, “Coronavirus Is Speeding Up the Amazonification of the Planet” and he wrote that a million years ago (aka March), so things have only gotten worse since then.

Make gifts if you are able or give experiences, but if you really want to buy things, shop locally if you can. Local stores are already suffering and at least the ones where I live have really improved their online…