Christmas is Coming: Are You Ready?

Christmas is coming, are you ready for it? I'm not, and probably won't be until about mid-January. I wasn't always this way. It seems to have happened sometime in between my first child's first Christmas and now, but I just can't seem to ever be fully prepared for Christmas. It's not that I don't want to be ready, I try to get into the spirit of it all, I just can't. Maybe it has to do with where I live. Being in rural Kansas, it's not like I am bombarded with the sights and sounds of Christmas on a daily basis. The only time I see Christmas lights on houses is if I dare to venture to town after dark. This time of year, sometimes that is just not a good idea to begin with.

I have good intentions to try to get a jump on the whole Christmas shopping, but it's hard. My problem is, if I buy something for someone, I usually want to give it to them right away. Then, that leaves me having to come up with a different idea for them at Christmas. Now add into the mix, I have a kid with a birthday 13 days before Christmas. So, before I can even think about Christmas for him, I have to think about what to get him for his birthday. And of course, what he wants for his birthday would blow the Christmas budget to smithereens!! XBox, Laptops, a Motorazor. Yea.. whatever!!! Do I look like I'm made of money? I still haven't figured out what to get him and it's only 9 days away!!! But back to Christmas. You see, I'm doing it again! I try to put it off until absolutely necessary.

I hate being one of those people rushing around the store the day before Christmas trying to find the stuff they sold out of the first week of December because I kept putting it off until the last minute. I just can't help it. Maybe I like a challenge, a scavenger hunt. Consequently, the gifts I give sometimes end up not making the impression I would like. I have tried the whole making lists of what to get each person. I had to write them in code so nobody would see it and figure out what I was going to get them. That worked great when I wrote it. But then I forgot the code. My oldest should be fairly simple this year. He needs new tires for his truck. So he can continue to come home from college every few weeks and mooch food and laundry service from me. He's not really that bad, he's also coming home to hunt, and see his friends. His last trip home over Thanksgiving, he did move some hay bales for me so I could turn his horses into that pasture. Well, not just his horses, I have one out there too.

My youngest is whole other story. It's been an expensive year with him so far. He blew the motor up in his truck in October, so I had to find him another vehicle to drive. Then, he had to have a suit for his Holiday Concert with the high school jazz band. (They changed the standard dress for the high school this year from white shirt and black pants to suits and ties in whatever color they want.) He is the electronic gadget kid. He's into computer games, anything music, and the louder the better. He told me he wants an XBox. He's probably going to get an amplifier and new sub woofers for his car, and a new drum set.

See, I have the ideas, I just haven't figured out how to get the motivation to get out there and get the stuff. Anyone got any suggestions?