If you haven’t finished your Christmas shopping by now, then we have you just where we want you: You have to shop local now. There’s no time to order books or clothes online, no time to brave the parking lots at the Galleria or McKinley malls. Your only option now is to run out to the nearest shopping district—Elmwood, Hertel, Grant, Main Streets in East Aurora or Williamsville or Buffalo’s University Heights neighborhood—and partake of the ample bounty offered by locally and independently owned shops and businesses.

Maybe it hit you while watching It’s A Wonderful Life this year, as everyone touched by George Bailey’s life filed into his home on Christmas Eve to give him the money to save the Building and Loan. Or maybe you were reading A Christmas Carol with your kid when you realized, as Scrooge does, that pinching pennies does nothing for your own happiness and legacy—and even less for the well-being of the Bob Cratchits and Tiny Tims in your life.

When Santa can’t quite come through with all your shopping needs, it’s time to come up with your own plan of attack. The best advice I can offer you is stay out of the malls. They are too crowded, too commercial, and too damned expensive. There are plenty of independent shops in Western New York where you can find all sorts of gifts just under 20 dollars.

Last month, in our first Holiday Gift Guide, we asked our readers to go to our Web site and pledge to spend at least $100 in local businesses this holiday season. We promised that those who signed up would be entered into a drawing for theater tickets, restaurant vouchers, and other assorted swag. The person who pledged to spend the most in locally, independently owned stores—and could prove it with receipts—would win a grand prize including ski passes, BPO tickets, whatever we have in the loot drawer here at AV.