Excuse me, Mister

"Excuse me, Mister, have you seen my Mom? She's the one running around with an orange point-and-shoot camera glued to her face."

Around Christmastime, I will be in the market for a new camera. I am looking at either a very basic DSLR or a compact system. I have been pouring over dpreview.com as well as bliofoto forum, and am as lost as ever.

The one piece of advice that made all the sense in the world to me so far was: hold it to make sure it feels right in your hand. Aside of that, there are so many things to consider I am ready to give up and stick to my little point and shoot.

Any thoughts on the subject???

PS. Thanks for your kind encouragement and wise words in response to my blip from yesterday. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed and it helps to verbalize it.