Isn’t it Ironic?

Here I am writing a blog for a shopping site, and the thing is I don’t think I have the “shopping gene.” There are 25 shopping days left until you-know-what and all I can think about is how to make it as easy as fun as possible.

Some people like the experience of shopping… walking around for hours, going through rack after rack, listening to bad music in the malls. Me? I just want to find the closest Starbucks.

My mom is the best at Christmas planning: she begins in January, sticks to a budget, and year after year she delights her dozen children and dozens of grandchildren with the absolutely perfect gift for each. I don’t know how she does it.

This year the younger set in my family (happily, I’m still included in that group) drew names. Each of us will purchase one gift and receive one gift. I like this idea. I would like it better if there were a spending cap (I proposed $25, not because I’m cheap but because it’s more fun to get creative than to drop a couple of Franklins on a trendy gift).

Has your family taken the drawing names approach? I’d love to hear about it.

I have a few suggestions for the gift givers. For the “smarty-pants” types in the family, how about DVDs from PBS? For the fancy-pants guys and gals, there’s Brooks Brothers. For the “no pants” – that’s our new dog, an adorable little Westie – I will most definitely be taking a trip (online) to Target.

The name I drew is that of my youngest brother. I’ve got 25 days to come up with something wonderful and creative. If all else fails, there’s always a gift card!

Until next time,

Conna