Greetings! This is Karon, the new features editor logging into WordPress to break the lull in blog updates.

Perhaps I should first write a little introduction about myself before you decide whether this entry is worth reading. I’m a fourth-year journalism student in the newspaper stream who recently finished a six-week internship at the National Post as well as a stint as news editor at The Paper That Shall Not Be Named. Oh yes, I also served as an arts editor last year with current news editor, Jesse McLean.

Anyways, with only two days left until Christmas, I haven’t done any shopping and I’m completely cool with it. You see, I’ve made pacts with everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) that we wouldn’t get each other presents because we’re all cash-strapped and no one really has anything on their wish list. I mean, we could do the $10-limit rule but when you set that rule with 10 friends and family members, you’re still down $100 and someone is bound to break that rule and spend the extra $5 — which is a faux pas right up there with kicking puppies and committing adultery.

Plus, does anyone over the age of 15 really have a Christmas wish list anymore? If any of my friends really wanted something, they would have bought it themselves instead of waiting for someone to buy it for them. Case in point, I needed Dr. Scholls arch supports, which are awesome by the way, but instead of waiting for them to appear under the tree I got ‘em myself. It was also “20x Points Day” at Shoppers and not even Santa could stand between me and my Optimum Points.

Yes, arch supports aren’t exactly the most enchanting of gifts but my family came to the conclusion that practicality is the number one thing we look for in presents. After all, you can only give someone so many photo albums and frames with funny/sentimental pictures before the dreaded “Pause, stare, and forced ‘Oh that’s so sweet!’” reaction starts coming out of them.

Prank gifts are another thing I never really understood. After that two-second hi-larious reaction from the recipient of the gift, it goes into storage/the garbage, never to be seen again. I’d rather spend my money on something I know they would use and not put on a shelf, collecting dust. My sister’s boyfriend gave her a Tea Stick as an early Christmas gift last week and she’s still raving about it. Last Christmas, he made a donation to WWF Canada for her, which also made her smile from ear to ear. Thanks to him, the polar bears can now frolic freely on the icebergs, get Polio vaccines, get an education or whatever the hell these charities do with the money.

That being said, here’s a VERY last-minute gift guide* for people you have absolutely no idea what to get, or people who got you a gift and you feel guilty/angry/screwed that you didn’t get them anything:

— Donation to a charity
— Metropass (The best present ever for any commuter)
— School supplies (portfolio books, nice pens, notebooks)
— Gift cards to places that EVERYONE goes to (Tim Hortons, Dominion, HMV)
— Renew their magazine/newspaper subscription

*These gifts also don’t require visiting a mall, an added plus indeed!