It Has Begun

"Civilized! Civilized!" implored one employee as he dumped a cardboard box full of external hard drives into the outstretched hands of two dozen shoppers, who nevertheless lunged at one another and the bargain-priced computer equipment.

--Michael Barbaro, Crowds Usher in Holiday Shopping Season

And here, in Silicon Valley:

The holiday shopping season kicked off Friday with a near-riot at the Wal-Mart in Mountain View as early-morning bargain hunters jostled with each other to get their hands on discounted laptop computers.

Police were eventually called to calm unruly shoppers who climbed over a display case and shouted in a desperate effort to get their hands on one of a couple-of-dozen Hewlett-Packard notebook computers -- on sale for just $22 off the regular price of $400.

--Shopping season off to a wild start

The insanity that is the Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/Yule season has begun. I, however, am prepared for it. I've done all essential shopping, and much of it online.

Today we put up the Christmas tree, and I decorated it. I also decorated our mantel and my prayer shelf with the manger and other decorations I inherited over the years. The advent wreath awaits on the kitchen table. It's interesting. I'm not a Christian -- at least, I don't practice or identify as such anymore -- but these icons from my past remain. The manger was my grandfather's. One sister gave me the advent wreath. The German Advent calendar hanging on the refrigerator was a gift from my mother. Increasingly I'm drawn to the Yule season, a pagan celebration that Christianity absorbed. Whatever it's called, it's wonderful.

I'm sitting on my sofa, Stella at my side. The lights are off except for the tree, the window candles, and the manger. I feel tired and peaceful. Content. Tomorrow I'll put up the outside lights. I also have paper snowflakes I cut out 22 years ago that I'll affix to the windows throughout the house. And then we'll be all ready for Yule!