Although, like most guys, I am not an "early shopper",  I really enjoy the whole holiday gift-giving thing.  When I moved to the Florida Keys full time in the Fall of 2007,  I faced a dilemma when I started to prepare for the holidays that November.    Living in the Keys and having most of my family in Boston made this more problematic than prior years because I couldn't just do the mall marathon two weeks before the holidays as I has in prior years (the nearest mall  is 90+ miles away).  I also figured that hauling gifts on the flight to Boston two days before Christmas was probably going to be more complicated than I wanted to take on.

I had been an Amazon customer for a long time.  I decided to go completely online and have everything drop shipped.   One of the things I took advantage of was Amazon Prime.  This annual membership service costs 80 bucks and allows up to 4 members of your family to get free two day shipping.   That first Christmas went off without a hitch and I have maintained the membership.  I do most of my discretionary shopping through Amazon which means I don't have to hike to Miami and Amazon Prime has been a real value for me.

They just announced a new enhancement.  Items ordered on Thursdays will be delivered on Saturday with the same free shipping.  If you shop online, this is a great service.