I hereby publicly declare that I will finish my Christmas shopping early this year. I love, love the holiday season. But inevitably I have last minute shopping and wrapping every year and it stresses me out. Plus all the spending at once (presents, wrapping, shipping) can be stressful. The most frustrating part: there's absolutely no reason for it.
There's no reason why presents can't be bought over October and November (or earlier even), wrapped and packed in November and be ready to be shipped or given by early December. My plan is to pick a day in November to be a wrapping/packing day. That will give me a deadline by which to have all my shopping done and will set aside time to pack boxes to be sent. For some reason the whole shipping thing ends up being a mental block and I put it off and put it off...until I'm one of several people in line on December 22 and forking over expedited shipping fees. No reason!
Another tactic I've been using throughout the year is pinning present ideas to my Gift board (family and friends, view at your own risk!). When I sat down yesterday to start buying gifts I was instantly reminded of some gift ideas I'd forgotten! So far we've purchased:
+ Books about spies and creative writing adventures along with temporary tattos for my nieces and nephew.
+ Vintage Grand Canyon print for my southwest-loving father-in-law
+ Vintage aquarium print for my brother-in-law who works at the Seattle Aquarium.
Also on my list are:
+ Chris
+ my mom and dad
+ my sister
+ my mother-in-law
+ my sister-in-law and brother-in-law (in Arizona)
+ my sister-in-law (in Washington)
+ two Texas girlfriends; but they're easy because we exchange Christmas dishes!
+ friends in Arizona
A couple of my favorite places to shop include LLBean for cozy and practical gifts (and they have free shipping) and Uncommon Goods for unique gifts. Joanna's holiday gift guides are also fun to browse.
Just getting started yesterday makes me feel better. The more I get done now, the more time there will be later for peppermint mochas, evenings watching Christmas movies, hanging out with friends and family and driving around to see Chrismas lights. That sounds like the holiday I want to have.
