Tikkabik

Bonnie and I detest shopping during the holidays. The crush of people, the endless loops of faux-cheery Christmas music, the gaudy red velvet and gold trim decorations. It's all too much. Call me a Scrooge if you want, but I do think it's a lot of humbug -- tricking people into spending wads of cash they, for the most part, just don't have in order to assuage their guilt about being absentee parents or thoughtless lovers for the rest of the year. Though the whole giving and receiving of presents thing has its rewards, however, especially for parents.

We like to be done with our Christmas shopping no later than Thanksgiving. That way, when everyone is herding into the malls looking for deals, we don't have to. It's less stress in our lives. Bonnie is also frightfully frugal. She could write a book -- in fact, I've urged her to -- about how to save money. When she sees good deals, she wants to jump at them. So there's no time of the year when it doesn't creep into our minds to start squirrelling stuff away for Christmas, and this year is no exception.

So, with that in mind, I've already bought the kids a couple of Christmas presents. When we were passing by Radio Shack last weekend, I saw in their window an exclusive merchandising deal they're doing -- a radio controlled car called Brum. Brum is this import from the UK, and James loves it: He's this little jalopy that saves the day in various ways. It's adorable, and now I have Brum put away for Christmas. The second thing I just ordered today: KB Toys had a deal on the Harry Potter Hogwarts Express electric train. It'll go to Bob. I think I was about his age when I started playing with model railroads. I figure I'll put a table somewhere down in the basement -- maybe with a big piece of plywood over it -- that we can use to set up the trains.