My crystal ball has lately been energized, feeling the need to make a prediction…..

Groundless it may be (at this point), but here goes:

Video games for xbox, wii and playstation.

IPhone stuff.

Plasma TV’s.

And, handcrafts. In particular fleece throws, scarves, hats, mittens. Fleece. We will all be warm this Christmas.

How do I know these things? Well, the electronic stuff is nearly a given; and with plasma tv’s on sale at the lowest prices of the century, everyone should be getting one. Now is the time. So, that seems like a given to me as well.

Nielsen did some online buzz tracking and their stats mirror pretty much what I’ve just said. Check here for actual numbers.

As for the handcrafts….the New York Times just did an article on how well craft stores seem to be doing for the season with people preferring to make their own stuff or even buying handcrafted items and why not? With the gild totally off the lily for stuff coming out of China…we have been saturated with poorly made representations of the real stuff. It’s a need I think the populace in general has.

Something real. Something from the heart and not the fabrications we have been being fed for so long, no one knows any longer what their real worth is.

For me 2008 was a search for the authentic…and for 2009, it will be a search for Rockwell. My nostalgia for all things American has gotten to me. Perhaps because we are so much in danger of losing it all.

My trip to Barnes and Noble revealed a similar kind of nostalgia…books on local interest (here, St. Louis), the Clydesdales, an actual book called In Search of Rockwell and Peppermint Mocha Hot Chocolate.

With that in mind, I hope you have a very merry Christmas for all of you who are believers, and to everyone a very happy new year. May 2009 bring with it all the hope we have put into it.

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