Today's Internet is not just about mass-produced goods, either. Antiques stores and galleries are offering one-of-a-kind items to Web shoppers (and when that mint-condition GI Joe from 1974 is gone, it's gone).

Women's handknit Fair Isle mock neck, $48 at American Eagle Outfitters.

We've started the shopping for you. While there are many more local retailers with websites, we've focused on only those on which you can do actual shopping at any time of the day or night, entirely with your keyboard and mouse. (There are plenty of other stores, though, that will accept phone or fax orders; check your favorite shop.)

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(With apologies to Clement Moore.)

Limoges "Winterberries" plate c.1890, $99 at Stone Bridge Antiques.

Once upon a time I would start my holiday shopping in mid-summer, always keeping an eye out for just "that special something."

In the fall, I would spend literally hours over several days wrapping each treasure, selecting choice papers and ribbons from my stock in the attic (what we dubbed "Santa's Workshop"), carefully crafting decorations for each package.

I would color-coordinate the wrappings so that the stack going to every individual recipient would be both pleasing to the eye and clearly distinguishable from gifts to every other recipient.

We would save shipping boxes and huge trash bags of polystyrene "peanuts" all year long in the basement, and over the Thanksgiving weekend we'd carefully pack all the presents.

Authentic street sign, $34.95 at the Pittsburgh Pirates official site.

On the first weekend of December, we'd load the car and trundle over to the UPS warehouse on the North Side, fill out packing slips, wait in line, and ship all our goodies in plenty of time to reach family and friends all over the United States.

Then I got a life.

Channeling Martha Stewart is fine if you don't need your attic, your basement, your time and your energy. But it's still possible to continue gracious gift-giving and the personal touch with that handiest of high-tech tools: the Internet.

And you're not trading convenience for choice, or that hometown feeling. There is a veritable mall out there in Pittsburgh cyberspace. More than 70 local businesses sell a range of goods that you couldn't find in a bricks-and-mortar shopping center: from locally harvested maple syrup and boneless pork hocks to handmade sweaters to the largest array of local sports team memorabilia that you will never see under a single roof.

Indeed, if you're looking specifically for Pittsburgh-made and Pittsburgh-theme gifts, the Web is the single best place to look.