Christmas is too far away - I gave in!

Every year this happens to me, and I hope that I'm not alone: I can't make it all the way to Christmas. Someone just has to open something NOW!

You see, each year someone gets a big gift from me; something that they've dreamed about having or something maybe they saw on TV or in a store and thought they'd never be able to have. I don't have kids, so I like to spoil at least one family member this way. It's not that I have a tremendous amount of cash, but when I have it, I like to spend it on people.

Like one year we sent my mother for a full day at Safety Harbor Spa - some place she'd never go on her own. One year it was Coach bag my sister was in love with but couldn't afford. And last year I got my hands on a painting by Luke Chueh that my husband wanted.

This year, I found out that my sister's two boys, 10 and 5, had no computer. The older one is starting to need one for school projects; the little one loves playing the Sponge Bob Squarepants game on Nickelodeon's website. And they only have access to a computer when they visit their grandparents. So I splurged: A full HP desktop, flat screen, printer, the whole she-bang (at a small LOCAL retailer, thank you very much).

I dropped the gifts off so they could have them Christmas Day, but I couldn't take the anticipation anymore - so they opened them right then! (It took very little convincing.) I was more excited, I think, than they were. At 36, I was jumping up and down when the wrapping paper came off!

But I couldn't stop there. I had my sister and brother-in-law open their stuff, too. Awful, I know. But this way, I think, Christmas lasts just a little bit longer, doesn't it? In these scary times we're having, with the economic downturn and all the federal bail-outs, I think it's important to make all the good times last as long as possible. Give out as many smiles as you can. Show some love.

After all, isn't that what it's all about?