I haven’t started Christmas shopping for many reasons:
1) I’ve been busy with a client deadline this week
2) I spent two days sleeping on the couch with a fever last week.
3) I don’t have a lot of extra spending money this year.
I just made a list of who to buy for last night, but I have no idea what to buy. I have thought of a random idea or two over the past months but for one reason or another they haven’t panned out. (My very favorite idea was a new coffeepot for Chris until he piped up and mentioned his mom was getting him one last week. Dammit!)
I am very pained about this for a reason: I pride myself on being very good at picking out gifts. Very good. I usually spend weeks or months planning these perfect gifts and then I am more excited about seeing the recipient’s face than any gift I will get myself. They are always very thoughtful – at times a little bit or a lot custom – like the book I made for my grandmother’s 90th birthday with photos from her home and quotes from all my cousins, or the custom stationary I made for people two years ago or the prints I found for Shannon’s guest room that matched her decor perfectly. But it’s hard to plan these gifts with no spending money, and it’s hard to feel creative about it with no spending money.
So I’m going out today to fight the crowds and fill some stockings. Next year, I’ll be back to my creative self – I promise.
Happy holidays!