Let Your Fingers Do the Shopping

Nothing was going to stand between me and my Holiday Season. Neither my bum knee (which is fine now, thanks) nor my seasonal allergies were going to keep me from my appointed rounds. This was because this year I decided that I could make those appointed rounds from the comfort of my own couch in my own home, armed with my laptop and my VISA card.

Yes, that is correct, my friends, this year I ventured into the Brave New World of On-Line Shopping. Oh, I had dipped my toe in that proverbial water in the past few years. I found that using the on-line shopping sites was a sensible and effective method of long-distance gift giving. It enabled me to order and send wrapped presents to family and friends who were out of town and it was not much more expensive and a lot less time-consuming than buying all the gifts and the wrapping apparatus and sending them myself.

My husband had already embraced on-line shopping for many of his purchases, and I would look on with envy as his packages from Amazon arrived, one after the other, at the house. I finally realized that there was no need for my on-line shopper’s envy. I had an active Amazon account of my very own. I, too, could shop without leaving the house. I rationalized that this would save my already compromised knee the wear and tear of literally beating the pavement searching for the perfect gift. Every single perfect gift is now available online.

I have found that online shopping is especially helpful when you have a very specific item in mind. In a traditional shopping scenario, I would physically go from store to store, hoping to find said item. This could turn into an ongoing and sometimes fruitless quest, or in settling for whatever version of the item I finally found. Let me tell you it wasn't easy finding a "man bag" my husband requested  a few years ago.  Obviously, men in Pittsburgh don't carry bags, unless they are backpacks emblazoned with a Steeler logo.

But online you can comparison shop, looking at every available version of man bags, sometimes all on the same page. You can find the best price for the item.  You can actually order the bag from Fossil, your husband's favorite brand, in the color, size and style you choose.  You can even add the exact wallet that your husband admired in the Fossil Store in Times Square last month to your order. And then it is delivered to your house, for what is usually a very reasonable shipping fee that in the long run may be less expensive than the price of the gas you put in your car shopping in the more traditional fashion.

Some people worry about the security of their financial information when ordering online, but, you know, I’m a risk taker. Just in case, though, I always make sure to use a credit card (not a debit card) when ordering online so that any glitch that might happen does not have an immediate impact on my checking account. Another cost-saving tip is to shop early enough to allow for delivery and to avoid the cost of last minute shipping.

Of course, there were a few things I still needed to buy in person, and a couple of strategic trips to Target and Rite-Aid helped to fill the stockings. Strangely enough, the Target in Cranberry is the place I buy my Hanukkah candles each year. This year all my gifts ordered online had been delivered to the desired recipient or to my house by December 14th and I picked up the last in-person gift on Friday, December 16th, four days before the first day of Hanukkah, and 8 days before Christmas Eve. This is a record for me.

I was so euphoric when I made my final purchase that I almost broke into a spirited rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus of Handel’s Messiah right there in the mall. Do you think that’s what inspired Handel to write it in the first place?