In spite of my innate fear, I braved a stuttered response. Kristin found this statement startling for a number of reasons, the first being that she HAD noticed over the past dozen years that I didn't give a rat's pants about Christmas shopping. I now understood my fear. My fears are much more firmly founded than that. There's nothing like the look and feel of cold hard cash.
Cash is good.
The spending of cash elicits a consciousness of thrift in that it is a tangible, finite resource. By nature, Internet shopping is a credit card game. A credit card is capable of eliciting none of the above mentioned values and sensibilities. As such, I do not need to fear the prospect of theft by some keyboard wielding cyber-thug. In recent weeks, a veritable treasure trove of Christmas joy has arrived at our doorstep borne on the broad back of Brian, the UPS guy.