Christmas for the retailer isn't quite the same.

I almost went back to work last night because I was so worried about the stress level today.

Yesterday, in just two hours, I felt overwhelmed. I had to give it up as a bad day. I walked away with all the graphic novels and toys undone, the games unpriced, with some of them still on the floor.

No real harm done. Cameron was there to do business as usual. But it bugs me not to complete tasks.

I spent about 10 minutes staring at the game stacks, as if that would suddenly open a space for the excess games....

There is always a solution, I find, if I think about it long enough. Cameron calls Pegasus the "Tardis" of stores -- like the Dr. Who travel machine that looks like a telephone booth on the outside but has expanses on the inside.

I wanted to stock up on games, so that I never run out of them during the Christmas season. So that a run of buying 2 or 3 in one day, won't mean I'm out.

But where to put the extras?

Plus, I ordered everything on the Blizzard Sales list from my main supplier, which means that my overall margin in the last few weeks has dropped more than 10 percentage points, which I'll be happy to have over the long run.

But in the short run, I've probably overdone it.

This is the first Christmas in years that I decided to pursue completely. Usually, I use it as a profit making opportunity. (By profit, I mean making enough to pay off all bills, actually.)

What usually happens when I buy like this isn't that I suddenly get a 10 or 20% boost in sales. But that I get a 1 or 2% boost in sales over the course of the year. In other words, it's an investment.

It's all in the timing.

I'm getting an extra 5% in December from DC and it's my intent to order extras of every single DC evergreen I can get. Even if it means borrowing money.

So anyway, back to the original point about stress. Today is going to be a lu lu. But I'm going to shrug it off, not let it get to me. If I start feeling the tension build up, I'll walk away and sit in the corner for a few minutes.

I did make one concession. I asked Cameron to come in for a few hours, so that will help.

In return, I intend to show up on Friday morning to help out for a few hours.