Shopping for self vs Xmas shopping. Can I ask to not Xmas shop this time of year?

[witchofzog]

I have had a day out planned with a lovely friend of mine for at least a couple of months to celebrate a big birthday we both had last month. We had planned shopping and a boozy lunch somewhere. I rarely go shopping for me and I have been looking forward to it loads.

She has just sent me a text saying she can't wait to go shopping and that she intends to do Xmas shopping too. But I really don't want to Xmas shop. It's supposed to be a treat and trailing around looking for Xmas presents for someone else's family is not a treat in the slightest. I guess we could separate and do our own thing for a bit (I am doing my Xmas shop online mainly) but this is not what I wanted and I thought we had agreed it was a day for us to spend quality time together and to treat ourselves

We don't see each other as much as we would both like but at the same time she works full time and has young kids so I guess her opportunities to Xmas shop might be limited. I am going to have to just suck it up aren't I?

Yes, I think so. Can you compromise: shopping for presents before lunch and for you afterwards?

Really? Why does it matter what you buy?

It matters because I will end up spending lots of time in shops I have no interest in whatsoever. For example toy shops When my ds and sdd's are older and not into toys anymore. When we have been for ourselves before we generally tend to like the same type of shops

We could split the day yes. That's a good idea. I might suggest that

Oh are you going into the Disney store? Great, I'll just pop into Molton Brown.

Easy.

That's kind of how I envision some of the day to be Morris and that's great if it is 2 or 3 things. But I am travelling quite a long way for this day and don't want to end up spending much of it on my own. I could do that in my own town! Ah I guess it will still be lovely though regardless. She is my oldest friend and I know the lunch will definitely be fun