I've got Christmas all tied up..

Photo: 3 presents waiting

I'm feeling very smug as I've had Christmas all wrapped up for days. An hour on the Internet and it was all done.

I even managed to buy my sister's birthday present (the poor thing has her birthday two days after Christmas) and a pressie for myself.

Buying myself a Christmas present is a tradition I started a while ago, it's a great insurance against the disappointment of not getting anything you really want. I highly recommend it.

I found some unusual gifts here and did the rest here - books, gadgets, smellies, clothes...it has the lot.

As soon as my postie had delivered the first package, I dashed to Waitrose for some wrapping paper. Big mistake.

WARNING: some of Waitrose's Christmas wrapping paper is actually see-through, although you can't tell until you're actually using it.

Fan-bloody-tastic.

I had to double- (and in some cases triple-)wrap the presents. Subsequently, I went to Tescos for cheaper and far superior wrapping paper.

The only other disappointment I have encountered in my amazingly hassle-free Christmas shopping experience is that things are not always as they seem in their photos. I can't go into that too deeply, as one of the intended recipients reads my blog.

The shoes  I bought for J (who doesn't read this blog), although lovely and almost exactly what he wants, are lace-ups instead of being 'slip on' as I had hoped. This may turn out to be a Big Deal. 

A a few months ago, I accompanied J on his hunt for some new casual shoes and we traipsed around no less than ten shoe shops. Why? Because any design he liked had lace-ups and "I just want something I can put on quickly. I don't want the hassle of laces."

Now, J is by no means a lazy man. In the summer, he put up a large garden shed single-handedly (I made the tea). I have never asked him why laces are a “hassle” and in exactly what situation he would need to save the five seconds required to lace two shoes. I suppose I shall find out on Christmas day…