Well, this time last year there had been a great start to holiday shopping on Thanksgiving weekend, and it turned out to be the worst retail season in years. So caveat emptor, eh?

Managed to avoid buying anything on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. But we will be buying groceries and gas this week, like we always do. But no Christmas shopping. We always give food gifts, so the only stores to see our business in this season is the grocery store and our local food coop. We buy tins for giving the food from our local Goodwill store, which always has a ton of them out this time of year. So again, we aren't supporting the big conspicuous consumption retail industry, nor are we supporting the fundamentalist Christians who try and shove their religion down the world's throat every year round about this time, by equating capitalism with godliness.