It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

As I write this, there are just 53 days left until Christmas. That means there are only 52 days left to shop for Christmas. That’s a little more than seven weeks. That means three or four paydays, depending on when you get paid.

Wow. Look at how many of you froze up, clenched up, clammed up or just plain gave up.

Yes, the beginning of November means the countdown toward Christmas. It used to be signaled by Thanksgiving. The day after we gorged ourselves on turkey, mashed taters, gravy, stuffing/dressing (without raisins, oysters or anything else weird, dammit!), yams (blech), cranberry relish or gelatinous circles (double blech) and pumpkin pie — that used to be the day Christmas shopping “officially” started.

But not anymore. Weeks before Halloween started, some of the Christmas items went out on the floors of Kmart, Cost-U-Less and other retailers. Artificial trees. Fake garlands and wreaths of pine cones, mistletoe and fir branches. Shiny ornaments and strings of beads. Wrapping paper, ribbon and bows. Right next to the masks, fake blood and 10-pound bags of candy.

I’ve already jumped into the season. I have two new Santa hats for my Jingle George columns. I’m taking in the suit this week to get some minor alterations made. There will be a ton of new Jingle George photos taken at various points around Guam.

I bought miniature stockings — about 40 of them. And I’ve added tons more of wrapping supplies to my gift-wrap armory, including boxes of all shapes and sizes. I had tons of stuff left over from last year, and yet still can’t resist getting more, especially when I see cool new items.

I really should consider opening a side business doing special quality gift-wrapping for others. It would be a way to cash in on something I already like doing.

Ooh. I need new super-sharp scissors. And some more tape. And wax in various colors (don’t ask ;) …heh). Time to hit the craft stores, I think. So much to do, so much to do … and so little time to do it. Oh, you may THINK there’s a lot of time, but it’s really not. And there’s less and less of it with every passing minute, hour and day!

I’ve already bought parts of some people’s Christmas presents and I have some ideas of what to get a lot of the the people on my list. Yes, I already have my list — though I still need to check it twice.

I’m also stocked up on Christmas cards — though I do need to get some holiday stamps — and am updating the card list so everyone who is supposed to get a Christmas card gets one.

So here’s your chance to get a Christmas card from Guam, where America’s Day Begins (and where Christmas gets its official U.S. kickoff. See more at the Random Guam Fact Of The Day).

Anyway, back to the thread of my post: If you want to get a personal Christmas card from DZER, or even Duane — or both — it’s very simple; not hard at all.

All you have to do is e-mail me your name (blogger identity is fine if that’s all you want to give out, you untrusting souls) and a mailing address. It could be your work address if you don’t feel safe giving out your home address. It can be a P.O. box. Hell, I’ll send it “general delivery” to your post office if that’s what you want. If it helps, Guam is about 6,000 miles from Los Angeles, 7,961 miles from New York City — kind of hard to do any quality stalking from that distance.

If all you’re willing to give out is an e-mail address in hopes of getting an electronic, over-the-Internet Christmas card, good luck — I’m notoriously bad about sending e-mail!

Send me an e-mail with the appropriate information to dzer@teleguam.net and I will guarantee you a Christmas card. Not a present (well, maybe some of you), but a card … complete with my autograph.

Random Guam Fact Of The Day:
• Guam is the very first place in the United States that Santa visits come Christmas. When you people are still waking up to your Christmas Eve morning, we are getting presents from Jolly Old St. Nick. Before you can even go to sleep with visions of sugarplums dancing in your heads, we’re ripping open presents filled with great things from Kris Kringle. Heh.