Pangs of Yuletide shopping

With only two weeks to go until Christmas, the clock is ticking faster and faster and if you're anything like me, you're nowhere near ready.

We always think we still have plenty of time to plan and prepare but before you know it, it's a mad rush to the shops on Christmas Eve to buy presents and last minute ingredients for Christmas lunch. And then you get to the shops and realise all the good stuff is gone, so you go from shop to shop hoping to find what you need.

If you're lucky you'll find everything but by the time you get home (hours later than intended) you realise that you still have a 101 chores you hadn't thought of before and end up staying up half the night trying to get all the presents wrapped and the table elaborately set out so that when the rest of the family wakes up on Christmas day, everything looks as it should.

You go to bed so late that you over-sleep the next morning and the turkey is late making it to the oven and from that moment on, Christmas morning is spent in a rush of catching up with the meal preparations, instead of sitting back and enjoying present opening and bubbly beverage sipping.

Receiving presents is always lovely but the thing about Christmas is that everyone gets them so none of us are exempt from the present buying process and I don't know a single person that enjoys it. It's hard enough on birthdays to think of one present to get a specific person let alone plan for every member of your family and close friends. But there are ways of making life a little easier.

Instead of making a specific list of gifts, mark down ideas of things each person likes. If you go with a list of exactly what you want it's Sod's law you won't be able to find it and you'll waste time going from location to location trying. But if you have a general idea of what a person likes (i.e. anything to do with football or gadgets) you can allow yourself a little leeway on what you buy them, which means if you can't find the exact thing you want you can find something similar and equally nice.

Make a day of it. Pick a day that you can leave the children at home with daddy and go shopping with a friend. Plan on getting to the shops just around opening time (for most malls here it's between nine and ten in the morning) so that parking is easy and you don't have to fight your way through crowds or long lines at the till.

And make sure you take time out to have a coffee break mid morning and a nice relaxing lunch. By the time you get home you'll have bought the presents you need without feeling stressed and haggard from the process.

If leaving the kids at home with their father isn't an option, agree with a friend or neighbour to take it in turns, one of you looks after the children while the other goes shopping - but make sure even alone you give yourself enough time to take it easy.

Apart from telling you to make sure you get the Christmas tree and decorations up this weekend (if you haven't already), that's all I have space for this week but I'll be back next week with some tips on all the last minute stuff you still need to take care of.