Looking ahead to 2008

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another edition of Cecil’s World in Print. Now that Christmas is behind us, some of you have a lot to look forward to.
I’m not kidding — many of you have to start paying off those credit cards you maxed out during the holidays. Don’t get mad at me, I didn’t make you charge it. It might be hard to believe, but I did not charge a single thing this Christmas. I never do. I was raised to charge only major items, such as a home and car, so if I use my credit card, I pay it off at the end of each month. I hear some of you ladies saying, “Well, how about your wife? Did she charge anything?” Well, maybe she did charge a few items.
OK, let’s get to it, I know some of you got some weird or unusual gifts for Christmas that you’re going to exchange. Can you believe I only got one thing I have to exchange? My mother gave me a medium-sized white shirt.
Don’t laugh. When I was in middle school, I could wear a medium shirt, but not now. I asked my mama what she was thinking, and she said she just picked up the wrong size. She told me to carry it back to Belk and get an extra large. I was so happy when she thought I wore an extra large, I just didn’t have the heart to tell her I was a tiny bit bigger.
How many of you have ever been to Wal-Mart a few days after Christmas? Well, let me tell you, it is quite an experience if you have to exchange something.
Many of us always get something too small or too big or just downright ugly, and we have to exchange it. A few years ago, I had to exchange something at Wal-Mart, and the return line was so long, they divided it into three sections.
After waiting for almost an hour in line, I handed the clerk three boxes of .410 shotgun shells and said I wanted to trade them for 12-gauge shells. The clerk scanned the box and said, “I am sorry, these did not come from here. Next!” I could not believe it. Wal-Mart has a system that will allow them to tell if the item came from one of their stores. So, for all of you planning on exchanging something at Wal-Mart even though it did not come from there, you will get caught. Now, you have to call whoever gave you the gift and ask them where it came from. Then you are in trouble because they now know you did not like what they gave you.
Sometimes it’s much simpler to keep the gift and give it to someone else next year. But make sure you write on the box who gave it to you so you won’t give it back to them next year. Who said, “I would never do that.” I’ll bet many of you have done that before. Yes, I will admit I have done it once or twice. But most of the time, I would give it to someone outside of my family, because you know how some family members can talk.
Before I leave, I have to ask how many of you have already made New Year’s resolutions? Well, I hope you made some you can keep this year, because if you are like me, my resolution will last about two weeks. Happy New Year, everybody! I’ll see you next week, right here in the Morning News and on the tube.

— Cecil Chandler is a veteran reporter at WBTW News13. His column appears Mondays in the Morning News.