Just browsing, thanks

You know its coming. Cheerful decorations are starting to pop up on homes around the Bay St. George area. Merchants are displaying their flashiest wares. And what can only be described as marshmallow-flavoured tunes are starting to find their way into rotation on radios and loudspeakers wherever one goes.

Christmas is all of four weeks away. A month is all thats left to develop that merry cheer, which for some people has been buried deep inside since the last holiday season. And the decision to purchase that something special for a loved one has already been replaced by a big question mark in ones head.

Sure enough, its hard enough to know what present to give. Harder still is finding the gift of choice in the perfect size, colour, length, width, etc. But with more and more retail establishments popping up online, the actual desired item has become easy to find.

A Stats Canada survey found that Canadians are increasingly using the Internet to purchase goods and services. Last year, almost $12.8 billion worth of order were placed by Canadians, up 61 per cent from 2005.

The number of online orders also went up 69.9 million orders were made in 2007, up from 49.4 million in 2005. Thats a whole lot of shopping without having to drive through inclement weather, finding a parking spot or wading through a sea of other shoppers. Couldnt be easier, could it?

Regular retailers need not fret. Stats Canada also said that many Canadians report using online retailers as a supplement to their traditional shoppers habits.

The agency states that in 2007, 43 per cent of Canadians used the Internet for product research or just to window shop. Those window shoppers said they afterward purchased something from a store.

All that said, its a funny time for shopping. On one hand, its easy to get caught up in the hype that Newfoundland and Labrador is now a have province and start purchasing whatever we want.

Then again, the price of oil has dropped to nearly a third of its summertime peak and the world seems to be teetering on an ugly and drawn-out recession. Not to mention this province still has an unemployment rate in the double digits and some of those Albertan oil sand jobs seem to be drying up quite quickly.

Of course, the Georgian would be amiss if it didnt mention that the holiday season isnt really about buying things or how much one consumes. Its more about quality time spent with family and friends, and enjoying laughter over a cup of tea (or something stronger).

Do we take our hard earned dollars and enjoy life as it comes, or do we scrimp and save and wait for the worst? Its a lot to consider over the next month. But lets be sure to enjoy our days, whether theyre marked with shopping days, religious days such as Advent, or even Xs on a calendar waiting for homeward bound flights from the mainland.

Christopher Vaughan