Only 19 shopping days until Christmas – the papers used to do the countdown for us years ago. Back then shops shut on Sundays so the calculation wasn’t straightforward. Now every day’s a shopping day.
Even though I’ve been doing Christmas-y things like putting up my decorations early, troughing my advent chocolates and drinking mulled wine it still feels like it’s snuck up on me a little bit.
With less than three weeks to go, now’s the time to assess the annual Amazon haul, I’ve been swiping right to buy every time an idea is given or comes to me.
Like every year I’ll no doubt feel like I’ve bought nowhere near enough when I get it down from the not-so-secret shelf where I hide it all.
That’s when there’s no alternative than to brave the open-again out-of-town retail park and go shopping in the old-fashioned way as in actually go to a shop.
I’ll choose a supposedly quiet time, next Thursday morning perhaps, before the car parks fill up and try and blitz all that I need in one fell swoop.
I’ve hardly ever been the cliché male who leaves it all to Christmas Eve. I tried it one year and never felt so patronised in my life, female assistants seemed more than happy to exploit the last-minute males off loading whatever rubbish comes to hand.
I never quite manage to buy everything in my pre-Christmas blitz but I’ll have broken the back of my present buying and should be able to pick up the final “stocking fillers” locally or online.
That leaves card buying, writing and posting. It seems such an old-fashioned task and one I usually put off as long as possible.
Addressing envelopes and writing greetings all seems so antiquated trying to remind errant hands that have evolved to mainly type and click how to hold a pen.
Finally there’ll be the wrapping which is a task that expands to fill the time available so I’ll definitely leave that one until Christmas Eve.
Then the big day arrives and all the cards and presents are devoured in moments. Before you know it’s the day is gone leaving 364 shopping days until Christmas!