Last night my wife and I took a casual walk through downtown Salisbury (NC, USA) and along a couple of the historical area streets before setting down to a relaxing meal at one of the local restaurants.
The walk was welcomed after what seemed to both of us a long week and it gave me an opportunity to bring along a camera to capture just a few of the local holiday sights. As I’ve related here before, there are some beautiful old historic home in Salisbury and we found some of the shop windows very tastefully done as well.
You can tell the recession is starting to take hold with a few more empty store fronts and a few less customers in some of the better restaurants. I’m sure many are cutting back on Christmas gifts this year as well, either because they’ve already been directly impacted by the economy or they”re cautious about how bad it may get this next year.
Concerning Christmas gifts I believe it was Oren Arnold who made this gift suggestion list:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.
Certainly doable on any budget.
My wife and I were discussing how it seems when times are tough people decorate a little more for Christmas–perhaps adding a few extra strands of lights or having holiday wreaths at every door.
Will there also be an increase in the giving of homemade Christmas cookies and other goodies as gifts?…perhaps I’m just being hopeful. ;-)