shopping in panic mode

I swore this wouldn't happen this year.  I was going to be good.  Keep track of what I purchased.  Not overdo it.  Stick to essentials with a few fun things thrown in.

Turns out having a dumpster on the driveway
this Christmas has been very useful.  Santa's
workshop has been extra busy delivering
my Amazon prime stuff to my door. 
They make it so damn easy,
 I need to remind myself that
 I DO have to pay for it all.

But sure as my Christmas tree didn't get put up until Tuesday night the 19th (as part of Curly's festive and practical birthday celebration), it happened again.  Coach doesn't buy a single gift.  No exaggeration here.  He doesn't even contribute with ideas.  I'm not worried about my lack of gift getting.  I got a new kitchen . . . still in progress in fact.  So, I don't ever expect to get another gift.  Ever.  I'm OK with that. 

But doing all of the shopping, and wrapping, and card making/addressing/sending, on top of everything else I do in a given week is a bit overwhelming.  This year is a tad unique since we have the kitchen construction wrapping up.  Toss in my horrible bout of Bronchitis that landed me at the doctor again on Monday night followed by a chest xray at the hospital, and I hit panic mode.  Big time.

The contractor is asking me to finalize my tile and light fixtures.  These things were left until the end because I needed to see the kitchen put together first.  But, who has time now?  A few days before Christmas? 

Amazon has been my constant companion this week.  I dread looking at my credit card statement in January.  As if the December one isn't bad enough with the appliances tossed on there.  I tried to space out the appliance purchase by paying half on the credit card one month and the next half the day they were delivered.  Guess what?  Both of those items posted to the same month . . . the first day and the last day of the credit card cycle.  Just my luck. 

I feel a bit like Ernie on Sesame when he tries to equal out the grape juice with Bert by taking little sips from both cups until there isn't any left.  Not sure who the ticked off Bert is in this scenario.  I guess Coach, but can he really complain about the results if he does nothing to help with the process?

I keep fearing that I forgot something.  Overlooked someone.  That someone is going to be bummed.  In my hopes to keep evening out the piles, I keep adding a few things here and there.  Eddie has already whined about not having any surprises this year.  In my quest to find tall, skinny jeans/khakis for him I made him try everything on as I stumbled upon it at the store. 

Hello, Elves . . . dropping this at the door
 in THIS box was a bit of an oversight, don't you think? 
So lucky that we caught it before
Reggie did!  Hard to find good help these days!

Then there are the birthday gifts.  Tank Dec. 5th.  Curly Dec. 19th.  Reg Jan. 9th.  I won't do combo gifts.  Combo gifts were the norm for me as a kid.  I was cursed with a December 30th birthday that followed my center-of-the-universe brother's December 27th birthday.  I will not repeat history here.

This SHOULD have been a scaled back Christmas what with the expense of doing a kitchen.  I had visions of wrapping up counter stools for the kids, but I have yet to select those.  I love a practical gift.  My crew doesn't really need much.  Tell that to my Amazon habit though. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and happy anything else you might be celebrating this time of year!  I hope you won't be stuck with any combo gifts or budget issues.  Tis the season!