Take note. I’ve started my Christmas shopping. The idea began at Trade Days, when I realized I had found a goldmine of fine, odd gifts. Last time I was there, I located a map of the place and started making notes of the shops I wanted to find again. Then yesterday in the mall, I actually made purchases. Because I realized that when you see what you think is the perfect present you should buy it. The alternative is to wait and forget where you saw it or go back and find its gone. Done both.

I’m not sure what this says about me, except that you can teach an old dog new tricks. In the past, I was a less than stellar Christmas shopper. I’d work, work, work. Procrastinate, procrastinate. Then squeeze in my shopping at the last minute. Bad idea. Stressful, too. Now, I’ve got a mental list of my gift recipients, and I’m going to do my best this year to find the most perfect present for each of them. It should be fun. I may even start wrapping them. I’ve got the paper, and I’ve got the time. Wouldn’t that be something? No last second wrapping rush.

This is pretty much how my late wife did it. She shopped all year, and her presents were mostly right on the mark. She’d wrap early, too. To use a geologic term, I think I’m now a conglomerate. Bits of her are stuck to bits of me and now I’m this new thing. She’s gone but her ideas live on in my tidy house, my well dressed self, new cooking skills, and now early Christmas shopping. There are probably other things of which I’m unaware. In truth, I feel like a better person for having known her and lived with her for fifty years, and I do believe I might be ready for whatever the future might bring.