Shopping done

Well, sort of. I took this picture the night I thought I had finished my shopping. I even bought myself a box of on-sale chocolates in the last store I was in (Bloomie's, buying Sexual eau de cologne for my father) to celebrate. On Christmas Eve morning, when I blissfully started my wrapping, loving the fact that Christmas Eve was a Saturday and I didn't have to go to work, I found that I was short one gift to wrap. I had ordered wooden dollhouses for my two young nieces. But when I opened the shipping carton, I found only one dollhouse.

Oh. No. I had to go out on Christmas Eve -- the one day I wanted to avoid having to go out. I had even made sure the house was stocked with cellophane tape, tissues, ham, and eggs by 12/22, just to make sure I would have no reason to leave the house on 12/24. Now here I was on Christmas Eve with two of my most important presents unbought.

Thankfully, a local children's gift shop offered cool crafty gifts, and I was the only customer there. I can give the dollhouses another time. (But after I recover my 2-day shipping on the messed-up order!)

To paraphrase Robert Burns..."the best-laid plans of mice and men." But when I nibbled these chocolates and took this picture, I experienced the satisfaction of shopping done early, which meant I was able to deal with disaster when it occurred.