AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, I’ve done all my Christmas shopping so far right here, though I may venture to the mall today. The InstaWife, who’s never shopped online in previous years, decided that she didn’t feel well enough to go shopping and bought everything from Amazon, too.

I think that this is a trend, as I’m hearing the same from others. And here’s some support:

Web sales doubled to $133 million on Thursday, Thanksgiving, from a year earlier and surged 40 percent to $250 million on Friday, according to ComScore Networks, an Internet researcher.

Chuck Davis, president of Shopzilla Inc., a Los Angeles- based operator of a site where shoppers compare prices, said more people with faster Web connections at their homes helped spur the increase, as did consumers wanting to avoid crowds.

“At a time when gasoline and traffic are at record levels, the convenience of online saves time, which is priceless,” said Davis in an interview. “Our Shopzilla sales shot up very heavily on Friday and Saturday.”

Traffic, etc., is worse every year. Or maybe not, soon, if more people are shopping online.