Andy Rooney Gives and Receives

I think I speak for all of you watching when I say that this is the time of the year we love because it's not too late for us to plan to do our Christmas shopping early. The stores have been advertising Christmas for a couple of weeks now, and the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree will be lit on Nov. 30.

Someone said, the Christmas season doesn't start officially until Nov. 26 but I don't know who officiates on that.

Every year I hope to do some shopping before Thanksgiving but I probably won't get at it again this year. December is still around the corner after all so it's still early to shop.

In other years, I've ruined Christmas for myself by waiting until the last minute to do my shopping. I get so nervous about not having a good present for one of my four kids, or five grandchildren that I can't sleep at night.

Some of us are good at giving presents. Others are bad at it. I'm not bad but I have the same trouble finding the right present for the same people every year. Of course some people are easy. I don't know why that is.

It says in the Bible that "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Well, maybe, but I wouldn't knock the cheerful receiver either. It takes more class to be a good getter than it takes to be a giver. The best gift getters give you the feeling they really like what you gave them, even if you don't.

I've been given four great presents in my lifetime: a three-wheeler Iver Johnson bicycle when I was about five, a ten dollar bill from my uncle when I was eight, a big league baseball with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig's autographs on it and more recently, a five pound can of "dry roasted peanuts."

I was thinking of getting started buying my Christmas presents early this year. I thought maybe at lunch time tomorrow but I remembered I had a dentist appointment. So I'll start shopping early later.

Written by Andy Rooney