The news is rife with stories of the sour economy and upcoming "lean" Christmas. As I hustled and bustled with the best of them at 6 a.m. at Toys �R' Us for the after-Thanksgiving sales, I took stock of the situation. Judging by the carts and carts laden with gifts, a lean Christmas might mean 15 toys per child under the tree instead of 30.

Painful indeed.

My children and I are reading "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I know, I know. We all pine for a simpler time, but imagine this scenario from Christmas morning, when the children found their gifts:

"In each stocking there was a pair of bright red mittens, and there was a long, flat stick of red-and-white-striped peppermint candy, all beautifully notched along each side.

They were all so happy they could hardly speak. They just looked with shining eyes at those lovely Christmas presents."

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