This Wednesday is Christmas and that means you last-minute shoppers still have a little time to buy holiday gifts to put under the tree. So get going…after you read this column, of course.

Anyway, here are a few thoughts on the holiday season this Christmas Eve Eve:

– “White Christmas” (rumored to be Sen. Trent Lott’s favorite holiday tune) is popular this time of year, for obvious reasons. The song says, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas,” which is pretty much what we do in this part of Washington state – dream of a white Christmas. I’m sure it will be more like a “Wet Christmas” here in the Tacoma area, as in rain. I’ve lived here most of my life and I’ve never experienced a white Christmas. Mother Nature has never seen fit to bestow upon me a white Christmas, and this year looks to be no different. But I’m not bitter. Okay, I’m a little bitter.

– “Wow” is all I can say about some of the Christmas light displays I’ve seen while driving around the South Sound. Some people have really gone all-out this holiday season to decorate their homes. I haven’t seen so many multi-colored flashing lights since Las Vegas. I sure hope these people have enough money to buy Christmas presents and pay their enormous electrical bills.

– I made the classic blunder of finishing up my own last-minute Christmas gift buying this past Saturday, which is actually the busiest shopping day of the year, at least according to what I’ve read in the newspapers and seen on television. People were packed into retail outlets and malls like sardines and parking spaces were harder to find than weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. (They’re there, they’re just hidden really well.) It was difficult to employ my usual guerrilla-style shopping strategy – that is, strike quick and get out. Also, Saturday’s shopping experience, where I often found myself stuck behind yuletide lollygaggers (“Yuletide Lollygaggers” would make a great name for a rock band), convinced me of something I have suspected for a long time: about 95 percent of the people on the planet walk slower than I do.

– Also on Saturday, I helped out a little with a local “Toys for Tots,” the program that gives away toys to needy families. It felt good to play a small part in helping to make Christmas a little better for the less fortunate. It truly is better to give than to receive.

You all have a Merry Christmas.

“My Two Cents” is a weekly column where the author gets in his two cents worth in spite of the old saying that you only get a penny for your thoughts.