Thursday, December 18, 2008
A week before Christmas. It hardly feels like it… until my across the street neighbor yesterday afternoon began putting up his electric lights and stars and statues. It’s quite the display. Earlier this week I was in the Malabar post office and it was very pre-Christmas busy. The last several years, even the week before Christmas there were no crowded parking lots at either the mall or the Wal-Marts. But this past week, my Wal-Mart has had a full parking lot anytime I drive by. That tells me everyone is feeling hopeful about the economy, that no one is withholding buying, that we’re all out there keeping it moving.
I’ve been doing my part lately to keep the economy going. I’ve made some big purchases in the last year: my Toyota Prius, a new garage door and opener, security system, water heater, various home remodelling. I don’t make frivolous purchases by any means, but I buy what I need to buy. I don’t have expensive toys or jewelry or tvs and stereos, but I don’t deny myself anything I really would like to have. Granted, I’m fairly practical. I’d just as soon upgrade the irrigation system as buy a new couch or earrings. Maybe float a new front walkway…
My point is, when the tv is telling me that times are bad, the only way I can prove that not true for me is if I begin in whatever small ways I can to pour money into the community, to give someone a job, put someone to work. Water heater need replacing? Just order it and have them put it in. I am not someone with a lot of debt so it’s not a burden to just order it. I also know it is a luxury and a privilege to be able to do that. Were my blackout curtains a necessity? No, but I wanted them, and buying them gave me the chance to stimulate the economy by my cash flow. Never let it be said I don’t do my part 🙂
So it’s good to see everyone out there in the stores this Christmas, buying what needs to be bought, happy to be out and about, hopeful to see what 2009 will bring. I can feel it in the air. It feels like… well, Christmas.