Earlier and earlier, the signs of the holiday season turn up in our lives. I was in the Century City Mall this week and noticed the Christmas lights are already up and the landscaping is wired with little twinkly lights. Today's USA Today had a feature story on great Christmas movies (as part of promoting the latest release, called "Fred Claus" with Paul Giamatti and Vince Vaughn.) And the annual "state of the holiday shopping studies" are arriving on our doorsteps. First, we saw the top items on people's wish lists (computers are back on the list). Today, the estimates for online holiday shopping are out, showing a healthy 20% increase over last year.
(My favorite survey is always the one showing today's cost of the Twelve Days of Christmas, though I'm not sure what I'd do with all that livestock.)
Reminder: prep for your holiday research and online shopping by making sure your PC and your personal information are safe before you go online. That means, as I've said before, internet security software, installed and up-to-date, is a fashion "do" for all of us.