Blue Jeans & Jelly Beans
I came into this season reading a book about simplifying Christmas. Spend less money, it recommended. Go back to simple, natural ways to celebrate with your family. Make things by hand.
I was inspired. I pictured us baking cookies and listening to carols, and ignoring the big, bad consumerist world outside. I didn't figure out how we would shop for gifts, which could have been a problem.
But a couple of months ago, my husband Ben wanted to do some shopping on the Internet. He asked for the list where I'd typed in the ideas I had for me and the kids. Actually, since our two computers are networked, I just told him where it was and he linked to it.
Ben went into hyperdrive shopping mode. He found a Web site for everything. He went to the Wizards of the Coast Site for the child who's into Pokemon Cards, and E-toys for other kids. He joined an E-bay auction to get some out-of-print Doctor Dolittle books.
Ben even coordinated presents for other relatives to give our kids. They are all on the Net, so we sent them e-mails and links to Web sites so they could decide what to give. My brother, in fact, not only chose gifts by e-mail, he also used the Quicken online bill-paying software to send us our check. That's wired.
Ben did his own shopping for some digital toys for me to give him. He was delighted with the Internet's capacity for comparing product specs as well as price. "Come here," he'd say. "This one has 2.1 million pixels per square inch!"
"Whatever," I thought, but responded out loud, "Great, honey! Pick out the best one!"
We also gave a Web-related gift to one person on our list. Ben's mom had had slow Internet service and was stuck in the America Online ghetto, so we've already given her her present: a fast DSL connection. Now she's a Web-surfing grandmother zooming around the whole Internet at light speed.
Out of dozens of Internet orders we placed, only one went wrong. It was for the Christmas cards I ordered from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Three weeks later, I still didn't have them. A phone call confirmed that the museum didn't have them either. So I ordered some from the Smithsonian instead, rush delivery, and had them three days later. No harm done.
We even used the computer for the family photo we traditionally include in the Christmas cards. After taking one we liked well enough, Ben scanned it into the computer and used photo-shop software to fix it up. He took out the blotches on my face and the glare on his glasses, and brightened the dark bricks of our fireplace. Then he sent the image to an online shop that turned it into real prints. They came out great.
By Thanksgiving, Ben announced he was done with Christmas shopping, without having set foot in a store once.
We did go to Union Square in San Francisco once this season. But we went to see "A Christmas Carol" at ACT, not to buy anything. It was wonderful to walk through the bustling sidewalks and twinkling window displays as a spectator instead of a shopper.
Now we are wrapping all these presents and, yes, listening to Christmas music. With all Ben's extra time, he volunteered to help with the Christmas pageant at our church. It wasn't the way I pictured it, but the Internet has helped us have the holiday season I wanted.