Mall-Free Christmas

I haven't set foot inside a shopping mall this Christmas season; I've done virtually all of my shopping on  line.  For the first time.  And it feels great, not to have to deal with finding parking and coping with crowds.  Not to mention trying to find something I think my husband and son will like, that will fit.  At the same time it feels weird, like I'm cheating by not having to put up with crowded malls.

Okay, I've been in a mall once since Thanksgiving, because we went to a movie there.  So I stopped by Macy's to buy a couple of boxes of Christmas cards.  They're getting harder and harder to find.  But I like getting them--I tape them around the archway to our family room--so I'll keep sending them.

I didn't plan to do everything on line.  I did buy the main items from Amazon right after Thanksgiving; I was planning to do the rest of the shopping at a local mall.   I was going to go to Nordstrom on my way home from teaching yoga last Monday, but started looking at Nordstrom's web site and realized I could get exactly what I wanted for my husband.  Shipped for free.  I knew the brand and the size, based on prior purchases I've made, and it was so much easier than hunting through the men's store.  I also relied on the LLBean website--again, because I'd bought items for them in the past, and knew what types and sizes to get.  OK, I'm taking a risk with my son, hoping he'll like the latest purchases.  I even bought the chocolate santas from Godiva on line; I couldn't bear the thought of going to the mall just to get a couple of things at Godiva.  Everything was free shipping except the Godiva.  But the Godiva website had a couple of offers that reduced the price of the items and of the shipping.

I did buy a couple of things for my cat the old-fashioned way, but I got them from pet stores.  In strip malls, which don't count malls, at least by my definition. My cat, Pooh, was named "pet of the week" in a local e-newspaper, and I received a $25 gift certificate from one specialty store.  So I bought Pooh a fancy waterfall-style (electric) water dish.  It was virtually the only cat item in the store, which otherwise is for dogs.  It was pricey; when I got home I checked the Amazon website and found I could have gotten it for about $25 cheaper if I'd bought it on line.  So the gift certificate was a wash.  And if history is any gauge, Pooh will hate the waterfall fountain and refuse to use it.  But he'll love the box.