E For Effort

Well, It's Christmas Eve and I just completed the last of my Christmas shopping, with 2 hours to spare no less! You might think I'm a procrastinator, but in my defense I have to wait till the last week so I don't have to be one of those people who carry all their presents on the plane and place them in the overhead bin. You know who you are. Fortunately I have a good solid week in Chicago to shop and buy everyone thoughtful gifts that they will be retuning the next day. But, after some thought, I realized that it's not important what I bought necessarily, whats important is that I took the time to try and think about the person, and what they would like, and venture out and spend hours searching for that gift. The actual item may be hit or miss, but the thought that went into the item is the real gift. . . . . . at least that's what I'll tell people as I return that jewel encrusted oven mitt. "It's beautiful, but you know what? I already have one."