The other day I went to buy a lamp for my house at Lowe's and I could see the frenzy raging at best buy and I thought to myself, people don't give a rat's ass about one another anymore. Who are they even buying gifts for, themselves? Are they buying stuff just because a store says to do so with some silly sale where they are selling a product at the price it should be at anyway? In my home I stress that Christmas is about giving and not getting all hyped up about receiving. On Christmas morning my son will be volunteering, serving food at a shelter.

I do hope our lessons at home over time will prove stronger than retailers' advertising budgets that scream "More! More! Now! Now!"

From our house to each of yours. Merry Christmas!

Everyone needs an occasional day off, or two --- bloggers too.

I'm going to take a couple days to recharge, rethink and renew, both myself and MakesMeWannaHoller.com. In the meantime, please feel free to visit the Archives here and sift through the 800+ articles I've written since February 2008. I'll still be on Twitter and talking shop on Facebook, so it's kind of like a vacation with limited access to email.

Be well and merry in these last days of 2011.

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