Now that the holidays are at a halfway point remember the good things about them.

1. 10 months of sanity to prepare for the 2 months of chaos. A Wal-Mart employee got trampled and killed by crack of dawn shoppers. I would much rather pay an extra $1 for that DVD later in the day than get up from my triptophan coma. Not to mention travel, ever expanding families, extended families, coordinating where everything is going to be, who is staying where, etc. I've known my sister-in-law for about 3 years and I still know absolutely nothing about her because I only see her at the holidays.

2. That you don't live with your family anymore. I got woken up out of a very rare for me peaceful sleep by my mother barging in inviting me to breakfast. And when I didn't come fast enough, she came back to do it again.

3. Shopping, shopping, shopping. Not all the best deals happen on Black Friday anyway. I can patiently wait for the stuff I want. I mean, all those presents I need to buy. But this also leads to the problem of telling people what you want and not accidentally buying itself when you do find it on sale.

There is so much more but I can't think anymore due to planning my on-line shopping. For others, of course.