Remember when we used to ridicule Eaton's and Sears for sending out their Christmas catalogues before summer was over?  Oh, we used to laugh and talk about how silly that seemed to be and then we'd all take our turns going through those thick books from cover to cover.  Those days are long gone.  Our Eaton's and Sears stores are gone.

I don't believe I ever ordered anything out of a catalogue but I certainly remember showing my Mom and Dad exactly what I wanted.  I think my Mom ordered that stuff via telephone, didn't she?  We thought it was so convenient - shopping from the comfort of your own home.

Who would have guessed back then that we'd be on hand-held, cellular telephones and laptop computers and doing our Christmas shopping on the world wide web in the 21st century?

A new poll shows we Canadian shoppers will spend 38% of our gift budgets online this year.  With that trend moving forward more and more Canadian retailers are investing more in the online marketplace.

It seems to me we owe it to each other in our community to get out and do our shopping locally.  Don't you?