Christmas is Next Week? WHAT?

So now, after reading Tracy's post, I feel like the biggest holiday slacker EVER. She's done Christmas shopping and is shooting to get all of her presents wrapped this week.

Me?

I just sat down and made a list of gifts to buy. I still need to get my mom a list for my son. I just realized that if I buy anything online, I'll have to express ship it. Argh.

Normally, I enjoy the holiday season and savor Christmas shopping. I'm not sure what caused me to be so behind this year--maybe it was the fact that Thanksgiving was a week later, that my child suddenly morphed into a demanding two-year-old, or that I'm so wrapped up in promoting A Bump in the Road, getting Not Ready for Mom Jeans prepped for publication and finishing up my next book all at the same time.

I'm hoping that I can bang all of my shopping out at Target. Or, at least most of it. Of course, that would require my son to actually behave and allow me to examine shopping items before putting them in the cart--usually, we race through stores, stopping only briefly to grab whatever is needed and chuck it into the cart. The goal is to get in and out with as few casualties as possible--no dirty looks from strangers, broken merchandise, no red faces and certainly no bodily injuries due to being hit by an errant flailing toddler appendage.

But, I do miss being able to savor the season. So, right now, I'm going to publicly declare that I'm going to do my best to actually enjoy the next two weeks. With hopefully very little bodily harm.