text: The Sites Before Christmas (washingtonpost.com) washingtonpost.com - Face it, shopaholics -- the Internet drains much of the fun out of holiday shopping and replaces it with ice-cold efficiency. Who wouldn't rather stroll through Neiman Marcus or Best Buy with their best buddy than sit solo in front of a computer, eyeballing page after page of tiny pictures showing what you could reach out and touch at real malls?