No..I Have NOT Started Yet!

I heard my first Christmas carol of the year while shopping in Walmart on October 30th. Ads have started popping up on TV, the Shopping Channel is flogging toys and electronics as the "perfect holiday gifts" and Santa arrives at the mall in two weeks...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Would you believe I've actually had a couple of people ask me if I've started my shopping yet? It drives me crazy!! To say I love Christmas is an understatement.... I adore Christmas. I love the baking, the planning, the shopping... I love the time spent with my family. I love going to the Santa Claus parade (the one in the big city because that's the only one the real Santa attends)..love, love, love attending the Christmas service at the church where we got married thirty years ago. I love the snow, love the smells...love everything about Christmas. But please..I beg of you..don't ask me if I've started shopping any time before December 23rd. I am a last minute shopper. Oh I've tried many, many times to start early..it doesn't work. I buy things, then second guess myself, return them and start over again. I need the pressure of being under the gun..I need to know that if I don't get it done...NOW!...it's going to be too late! I need the hustle and bustle of the crowded mall to jump start me into gear and get me going. It's like the call of the wild to a wolf..it's inbred...no wait, not inbred...inborn. I am a procrastinator. I don't know why...my mother is the furthest thing from a procrastinator. I'm pretty sure I drive her nuts! She starts planning in May, shopping in June and is usually finished everything by July 1st. She calls me annually around August 15th and asks what we're having for Christmas dinner...just so she can figure out what to bring. "What??? You don't have the Christmas menu planned yet???" she asks, obviously shocked even though my answer is always the same..."No Mother I haven't figured Christmas dinner out yet..I'll get on it in a couple of months." Nope...the procrastination didn't come through those bloodlines! While the rest of you are sitting by your trees on Christmas Eve, sipping hot chocolate and listening to Christmas carols, secure in the knowledge that your shopping is complete and everything is wrapped and ready..I will be rushing out to the variety store to buy disposable razors and gum for the boys' stockings (the human boys). It's tradition...just like your turkey and the strings of popcorn and cranberries on your tree..I wouldn't dare change it!