I hate to even think it in some ways, but I think I have Christmas shopping pretty much done. I’m sure I have missed something and will have to run out wildly looking for that last minute something. That’s how Christmas works for me. Which is why I find it strange to think that I may have gotten everything I needed and still have two weeks to go.
There were years I wouldn’t even start Christmas shopping until a couple days before the day itself. There is just something about that last minute urgency that makes it all the more exciting. There was something almost death defying in heading out on the last couple of days before Christmas and finding something that may or may not pass as the perfect gift.
It did not take me long to figure out that if you want any of what are considered the hot items for the year, you had best start getting in line in October. You pretty much have to get them before people clue in what the must have item for that year will be. So my Christmas shopping expanded a bit.
Sometimes, I had to really expand it. I clearly recall one Christmas when I had people scouring stores from Montreal east trying to find Ninja Turtle action figures. I think it was the first year they came out and they were hard to find. Although I did manage to locate some in a store in Corner Brook and had someone buy them and ship them to me.
Now, I wish that I had left them still in the package. That would probably be pretty close to winning the lottery, having a complete set of original Ninja Turtle action figures still in the package. But we had fun playing with them.
That was about the point where I started to ween myself from the adrenaline rush of last minute Christmas shopping. It took a few years, but I think this year I finally have done it. And it only took about thirty years in the process.
It’s not complete yet. There’s still wrapping to be done, and even if it is just stuffing things in gift bags, it will still be last minute. At least some of it.
