It first hit me when I was organising my next antenatal appointment and 3 weeks came back at ... Dec 21st. My mind jumped a little, and the thought ran through my head "that's 4 days before Christmas" but it didn't really sink in. Then about a week later I blithely commented to a harried looking friend about Christmas being a fortnight away and promptly received the dirty look that saying such stupid things deserve. The thing she didn't understand was, I wasn't bringing it up for her.. I was telling me.
Yes, I was telling the person that hadn't even started thinking about Christmas presents.. The person who hates going anywhere near a shopping precinct in the month of December that they generally have the Christmas Crunch organised with military precision to avoid doing so. The person who's fall back gift decision was a family jar of cookies, if the extended family decided to exchange, but hadn't even organised enough butter.
Oh yes, the person I was talking to was me.. and even then I didn't hear it.
Yup, it wasn't until the following Thursday that any level of urgency hit and that's only because, for my family, I need to post. So I sat, schemed and tried writing lists to prompt action. I drove around carparks and smiled at the 4 wheel drive owners who had "entitlement parked". I wandered around the 3 stores in the centre I would be willing to buy from and couldn't find anything inspiring thus picked up a bottle of sweet almond oil and left.. Forgetting that I really should get 2 dozen more cloth nappy flats while my car had the luxury of a parking space.
As I still hadn't solved my problem I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Olinda. I found some lovely bamboo wash cloths to stash in the baby box and added one more item to my partial present pile but was honestly no closer to finishing than when I started. Oh, and I needed to organise a plate for the Mt Districts Christmas party starting in 2 hrs.
With that in mind I toddled home and cast my eye critically over the pantry and fridge. Pulled out some home made yoghurt to drain added a bit of salt, dill and garlic. Grabbed a jar of salsa off the shelf and I was done. I'd pick up some biscuits when I drove down the hill for A later in the evening.
By the time I picked up the biscuits I had at least decided what everyone was getting. Unfortunately it would take until 6pm the next day before any of it was complete enough to think about wrapping let alone post.
All I can say at this point is... May the postal system love me cause nothing's making it on time otherwise and let's not talk about decorating.
:-D
