Here’s a Holiday hint.  Do not wait until the last minute to do your Christams shopping.  It can be a very expensive proposition.  A friend of mine and I’m not giving any names but it starts with an M and rhymes with Lorgan found herself in a Walgreen’s at 11:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve.  The thing was , she wasn’t there alone in fact, it was quite the opposite.  Can we say Walgreens 11:30 December 24th: crowded.  At this point you are thinking with the midnight oil getting ready to burn, “Perhaps they would like a ShamWow?”  or “Everyone needs a Pedi-Egg; I means WHO DOESN’T have callouses?  I laughed at her, shamed her and them my husband called me into the kitchen to let me know exactly 3.5 relatives were coming Saturday and as he would be at the firehouse all day the day before….......

Picture me at Walgreens.  It’s crowded again but this time with after Christmas sale seekers and they are the worst.  They will take you out for a half price fiber optic tree; don’t you doubt it for a minute.  I paused briefly at the gift card racks but somehow the thought of exchanging gift cards, possibly matching amongst family members was too depressing.  As I sat at the electronics aisle debating a $178.00 miniature lcd television that I would never even consider for my own kids, I realized all visions of my cheapskate Christmas were going to be shot to heck because it was down to the wire and I sure a wasn’t going to show up empty handed.  Needless to say, I blew my budget by 1:30 p.m. that afternoon.  Part of it at Walgreens, part of it at Marshalls, part of it at Game Stop, part of it at Target, and part of it at CVS.  So go ahead rhymes with Lorgan starts with an M laugh at me, I could use a boost….but so could my budget.