Dear Readers,

Like a lot of other folks, I have a bunch of shopping to do for the Christmas holiday. Like a lot of others (I hope), I will do as much as I can in the little shops of Boothbay Harbor and Wiscasset. 

OK, I get it. I could get better prices if I shopped online. I could get better prices if I drove to Topsham, or Augusta or Rockland or, horror of horrors, the South Portland Mall.

But I don’t want to trust those who ship in things from somewhere else. 

I do not want to drive to a big box store either. It seems with the price of gas I would use a couple of gallons, even when I drive my tiny Mini Cooper, to save a quarter of a percentage price point on a gift purchased at a major retail center 50 miles away.

Unless I missed something, except for shipyards, fishermen and schools, a lot of our hometown's economy rests on mom and pop small businesses. 

These are the shops that provide us with the stuff we need and want, every day. They are the reason we don’t have to drive 50 miles to get a part or a tool or a book or a sweater or a loaf of bread or a prescription.

We all live on a corner of one of God’s great geographic masterpieces. We stay here year-round putting up with the nor’easters, snow storms, high taxes, black ice and black flies, much to the amazement of some of our summertime friends who flee to warm land each fall.

But we would be hard pressed to stay here year-round if we had to drive 50 miles to buy a pair of socks, a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, a bottle of nice red wine or even a jug of Allen’s coffee brandy.

Those items, and more, are provided by our local merchants. If we don’t spend our hard earned dollars with them, they may eventually go out of business.

Plus, it's tough to buy a pair of socks, a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, a bottle of nice red wine or even a jug of Allen’s coffee brandy at a store with a padlock on the front door and a “For Rent” sign in the front window.

So check out our local friends when searching for holiday gifts. And don’t forget to take your family and friends out to eat at one of the fine local restaurants that do not desert us when the winds of November turn into the snows of December.

After all, the New York Times recently stopped in our village for lunch and said the word charm seemed to be meant for our town. They loved the food at the Ebb Tide. Me too.

Don’t forget to shop local. You won’t be disappointed.