Friday, December 19, 2008

My Yule Pickle.

The cold weather has finally had the threatened payoff of a day of snow.  Schools closed today (yesterday too, but that was just on the threat of snow.) and even my office shut down for the day.  Looking outside is like looking at a Christmas card, a fluffy blanket of glistening white snow covers my neighborhood.  People are bundled up, carefully navigating their way across the ice pulling kids on sleds (no, I'm not kidding, it's like some kind of surreal Normal Rockwell world out there).  
It's is pretty.  And pretty damn cold.  I feel like a total Grinch, but I hate it.  And not because I'm cold and it is a well established fact that cold and Laura do not mix.  I hate it because I do not drive on snow and ice.  I've done it a handful of times in my life and it scares me shitless.  Being housebound is not all bad, but when you've been a bad mama, and put your Christmas shopping off until the last possible moment, it really really sucks. 

My plan this year was to shop locally and support some of the smaller stores.  I was going to have to do it on the weekend, and then it snowed.  Damn winter weather.  So at the last moment, I've had to scrap that plan.  I'm resorting to online shopping, like I usually do.  Except now, because I've put it off so long, I have to pay for shipping and not just normal shipping.  In some cases I'm going to have to pay for express shipping.  For an online bargain hunter like me this is the ultimate insult.  And yet, to give the boys a reasonable Santa surprise, I'm willing to do it.  But wait, there's more!

Remember, today my office was closed.  I had to work from home.  And the boys are home.  And as usual, I have no privacy (don't worry, this isn't going to turn into a rant about how just one time this year I'd like to use the restroom solo, without a little visitor or two...though really, that would be nice).  Whenever I start to look for the right gift for one of the boys, that same boy comes over and looks at my computer screen.  And trust me, my reflexes just aren't fast enough to get it off screen before they see the toy I'm considering for their gift.  At this point if they get a single surprise, I'll be stunned.  Really, their timing in uncanny.

Anyhow, I know I've created this problem for myself.  Had I just been a little bit more on the ball, I could be one of those smug mommies with their gifts selected and wrapped, ready to go, hidden in a closet somewhere (though with only one closet in the whole house, I doubt this will ever be my lot in life), but no.  I procrastinated too long.  I held off, I idealized my shopping experience and now it seems I'm destined to be one of those poor bastards, picking through the left over toys at Target on Christmas eve day, or one of the suckers who pays half the price of their gifts in shipping just to get it delivered on time.  

So what about you?  Is are you in deep doo doo like me, or are you one of the pre-planners?Either way, it will all turn out in the end, right?

And yes, that's an actual photo of my street taken this morning by little old me. 

7 comments:

Sheri said...

I pay up front for my laziness in the form of Amazon Prime. I just ordered most of my gifts off of Amazon... yesterday. No shipping costs.

And the pinnacle of laziness this year, I paid for Amazon gift wrap and shipped directly to recipients.

Heather said...

So, it looks like that threat of winter weather actually came through! Looks beautiful.

I'm not a mom (yet) so I guess I can't answer your question. I feel your pain on shipping, though. I LOVE buying online but HATE shipping prices.

Anonymous said...

YULE PICKLE! Ha!

I still have about half my shopping to do. The hubby and I are going to go on a marathon shopping trip on Monday. I got alot of stuff online this year but I lucked out with free shipping on quite a few things. Also signed up for a free trial of Amazon Prime in order to get free 2 day shipping on a few things.
Many of my co-workers have a Christmas Club bank account which cashes out in October. They then get all their shopping and wrapping done then. I hate those people =) It's just not the holidays if I'm not doing things last minute and wrapping in the wee hours of the night. That is the American way!

Green said...

Hanukah starts on the 21st, and I'm taking my friend's daughter to buy her (single) mom a present today after school. Since that's the only present I'm getting anyone, I'm in good shape (within the bad shape of not buying anyone presents).

Can you put little cat bells on your kid's feet or something so you hear them coming?

My mother used to keep Hanukah presents in the study closet, so of course I always looked. It was still fun unwrapping them during the holiday.

Green said...

Crap, I forgot something. If you know what you want from the local stores, you could call and tell them you wanted to buy a widget in blue and ask if any of their employees live near you and could drop it off and you'll pay them now over the phone by credit card. You'd still have to go to the post office to mail things, but that could be one big trip to the post office rather than 14 little trips to all the different stores.

mamikaze said...

I am only half smug this year. I have all of Fluffy's gifts in the closet. But only one for Bear. I think Mike got her one that he is bringing home next week. I am tempted to buy her a stack of Starbuck's holiday cups because she loves the damn things. I still haven't bought anything for my in-law nieces and nephew.

Mrs. F said...

I thought I was doing pretty good, turns out I still have at least 5 things I need to get...*sigh*...

At least it is not snowing here.

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