By LEE DRESSELHAUS / L’Observateur / December 23, 1998

So…it’s upon us once again, that season of joy. That season of giving. That season of…shopping. When women are women in all their glory and we men, are, well, afraid. When women indulge themselves in an orgy of shopping, gleefully dragging their reluctant, shell-shocked husbands behind them. I know all about that reluctant husband thing because I am one. Every year at this time I, like many other men out there, go into that state of dazed shock which I refer to as the “Tis the Season So Somebody Please Just Shoot Me”-syndrome. I have tried with spectacular unsuccess for years to avoid having to go out to the mall and having to fight my way through the crowds of rabid Christmas shoppers. My wife likes this time of year and it makes her happy to shop and since it makes her unhappy when I get too obvious about trying to worm my way out of it, I go. And I go smiling if I know what’s good for me.