If you're struggling with your Christmas shopping this year take a look at the range of gifts on offer at our online gift shop www.giftofsight.co.uk

The Sightsavers' gift list gives you a great opportunity to buy your friends and loved ones a fantastic present which could have a huge impact on someone's life in the developing world.

Christmas and Winter Solstice are over and Boxing Day and Kwanza halfway gone. Hanukka's well into its second half. All that remains this holiday season is the celebration of the coming of 2009, which is traditionally a day where many look back in order to more-clearly look forward [and bloggers are made happy by the gimme that end-of-the-year lists are by way of making opinionated introspection simple and fun].

I learned a lot this year, and I plan on applying all of this new wisdom to 2009. I don't need to point out that we're on our way into an economically tight time, so as we try to make our operations as lean and effective as possible, these are the first suggestions that immediately come to mind.

Trim the fat.