Welcome to the Christmas season, everyone!  The giant plastic candy canes erected in the park outside my apartment on November 1 are now officially allowed to be there (I’ve been giving them the silent treatment), and I am opening the doors on not one but two advent calendars.  I love advent calendars.  Whee!  Anyone want to sing carols?

Of course, there’s the dark side of December, too.  This part of the year for me usually ends up being a mad scramble to buy gifts for my friends and family and get them crammed into boxes and shipped everywhere they need to go, while imagining that I am going to start making Christmas cookies and sending them to people at any  moment.  In an effort to help out folks like me whose shopping does not begin until December 1, today I thought I’d share my favorite places to shop for, well, stuff.  Stocking stuffers, quirky gifts, things for people for whom you’re afraid to buy a serious gift but have to get something…  you know what I’m talking about.  It’s easy enough to get on the internet and find what you’re looking for if you’re looking for something specific.  If you have no idea?  That’s a lot harder, particularly if you don’t want to spend a ton.  Here are some of my favorite sites to pick up interesting little gifts and inspire me to fill out the stockings.

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