Boy, just when I was enjoying a return to the '60s now the news is filled with talk of recession, gas issues holy heck! It's the '70s! My, how time flies.

The next thing you know, I'll be wondering if that figure on my license plate is a zero or an "O."

Perhaps it's just a self-correction.

I've been reading about how people are buying less, making do, putting off purchases. The next thing you know, we'll be resubscribing to Mother Earth News and bartering publications.

It's not necessarily bad.

And it's probably well-timed, as we enter the season of excess in America.

First, Thanksgiving, where we commemorate our ancestors' ability to survive in the new land by consuming a meal that would choke a pig: at least two kinds of potatoes, multiple desserts and a great, honking bird that will honk no more. Overeating is not only sanctioned, it's the American way.

Before we have fully digested that, we'll be up at 0-dark-thirty to stand in three-block-long lines to drop $300 or so on the latest toy.

Commercials are already enticing us to spend just a little more, in the pursuit of the "perfect" Christmas. And what is that, anyway?

Here's a Christmas memory that stands out 40-some years later: It was the first day back at school after the rapturous Christmas vacation. Our third-grade teacher asked each of us to come up to the front of the room and say what we got for Christmas. It was a long, slow litany of pogo sticks, bikes, clothes, record albums, Barbies. The last to come up was Clarence, one of the "poor" kids, in an area not known for its wealth.

In an embarrassed voice, he said, "A model and new pajamas." He rushed back to his seat.

Some kids actually whispered what we were all thinking: "Is that all?"

The teacher took that moment to admonish us that we - with our multiple new toys and gadgets and outfits - could be losing the meaning of Christmas in our greed.

What would she think now? We not only blow out the budget, we go into debt in search of the "perfect" Christmas. Sneakers that cost more than $100. Game systems that come awfully close to $500, with accompanying games at $50 or more apiece.

We've lost touch with making do. We've forgotten how to live within a budget.

Remember when "fourthmeal" was a baked bean sandwich on Wonder bread? When no one cared what brand of sneakers you had?

As foreclosures reach an all-time high, and gas prices do their alarming dance, let's do something daring: Let's give thanks for a chance to remember what's really important this holiday season. Maybe the "perfect" Christmas is thoughtful tokens, charitable contributions to those less fortunate and the priceless treasure of holding our loved ones close.

Or am I just old?

(Reach Derri Scarlett at derriscarlett@;yahoo.com. Her column runs on alternate Tuesdays.)