Traditions and Transitions

In the last eZine, there is an article about traditions and transitions during this time of year. I have already received lots of good feedback on the issue. Things will be different around our house this Christmas. I am not putting the outdoor lights around the front porch overhang. We are having a traditional evening dinner with Kevin's family, which will be new. I am still looking forward to some last few days (not last-minute!) shopping. The interior of the house looks a lot like last year, the tree has been up for weeks now.

Maybe it will snow for Christmas?

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Identity Theft (and worse)

Someone got my credit card number. At least that's what the credit card company says. Some fraudulent activity occurred with an ATM transaction, so my credit card was cancelled. To answer the question posed by the credit card company, who shall remain nameless, of what's in my wallet -- nothing of any value. Nothing that I can use to purchase Christmas gifts, here in the most depressed economic times in our history.

I can't get a new card for several days (7-10 days if you don't raise a stink). Which makes me wonder about the infrastructure supporting our credit system. Suppose in the midst of the prime shopping season, a bunch of us had our credit card turned off. How are we going to get this economy going again if I can't spend money that I don't yet have? It seems like somebody (merchants or the credit card companies) would want me to have a shiny new card, ready to use immediately. Maybe we should use a few dollars of the billions in the bailout to have a few drivers on standby to bring new cards to people's homes who suffer what I did. Just a thought.

Am I being unreasonable?