The lovely ,romantic idea of Christmas Shopping...aaahhh!

[LordOfTheFlies]

Every year when the adverts come on-you know the ones.Busy,colourful snow-covered streets. Lights from the shop windows. People carrying large,colourful parcels and bags.
Children looking in toyshop windows.

But the reality is soooo different. Every year I look forward to the Christmas shopping. And then I'll go out and after 2 shops I've got bags to carry.Keep an eye on my handbag. Trying to walk round and find things in shops. The queues. The drive home.
And I daren't even take DCs it'll be a nightmare!

So, we've got most of the DCs presents -especially the big boxes.
Need to go on a late night stealth shop for bits'n'pieces.

DH and I are having a childfree shopping trip.

If only the reality matched the dream.

You're absolutely right. Add in nowhere to park, incredibly dangerous icy pavements, short tempered shop staff etc.

I'm so grateful I don't need to buy tons of presents. I really don't have the enthusiasm!

Oh god yes! You are so right!

I always look forward to Christmas shopping and try to plan ahead by looking in the gift guides and online. But when you get there, either they have sold out or it looks really cheap and nasty or the box is battered. Then you have to traipse around looking in all the other shops to find an alternative and there are people everywhere.

I'm a miserable bugger aren't I? :o

I always get accosted by chuggers whilst Christmas shopping. When you're struggling back to the car weighed down with bags, you really need a cheeky chappie who's only been employed for his flirting skills saying 'Smile darlin', it might never happen. Come and have a talk and give me your bank account details, I can see from your cheerful and not-at-all stressed demeanour that you want to.'

I know. I LOVE everything about Christmas & have a really sentimental view of it all. But these days I do most of the present buying on the Internet after years of being disappointed by the whole stress of shoppng!

Freezing cold and wet outside, fingers dropping off from carrying heavy bags in the cold. Hot and damp inside shops, feeling sweaty with frizzy hair. Thinking 'fuck it I'll just buy them that, can't find anything better' then getting home and realising you've bougth a piece of crap you're embarrased to give.

Couldn't agree more, although I did quite like the Xmas shopping I did in John Lewis one year, where you could grandly hand over all your tat lovely gifts and collect them later. Sadly I can never find all the things I want in just John Lewis.

Traffic, parking fees, queues, too hot, too cold, too busy! I hate shopping, have done it on the internet for years and love the convenience of it.

I find that having a fantasy christmas shopping trip does the trick.

Theres a dusting of snow as I set off in my vintage 1930's car to maybe Bath or the town in "The Box of Delights".

I park up right outside "Ye olde Toy Shoppe" where there is a huge selection of toys to choose from, and shop assistants again from the 1930's say "Shall I put that on your account Madam?" and they help me pack them into the vintage car. There are carol singers in the town square, dusk is falling......

.....then I wake up and buy everything online.

We always have a child free shopping day at a big out of town shopping centre, (planned for two weeks today) the highlights are a big cooked breakfast at Frankie and Benny's before we start and multiple leisurely coffees, the list is kept short by actually doing most of the shopping beforehand, and the main item on the list is a christmas dress for me.

So essentially a nice child free day out, and DH carries the shopping :)

This year DH actually initiated the checking of diaries to find a suitable date

TeaOneSugar how lovely! The big cooked breakfast should feature in everyone's fantasy picture of christmas shopping.

Dont forget being wrapped up warm cause its cold outside but then boiling in the over heated shops and almost passing out!- Happened to me a few times now!

Do what I do

Shop online in Oct & Nov, then spend December wafting around the shops in a lesiurely manor, Gingerbread latte in hand, picking up little last minute non-essentials without a care in the world.

I learned this the hard way when heavily pregnant at Christmas time. Big bump + hormonal rage + Christmas shopping = never again!

BigKahuna thats what I do too - gingerbread latte and all!! (You know its nearly christmas when they start ;) )I enjoy getting the stress free, no thought presents like gift sets from boots, knowing I've already bought and had delivered the main things. Also learned the hard way!

Teaonesugar, sounds exactly the same as our "Christmas Shopping Expedition"!!

Gingerbread lattes sound very very scrumptious!! Will add to day's itinerary.

Got most of the DC's pressies, just need to do the elders now.......help!

Yes I do what BigKahuna does too except I usually remember around the 22nd that I've forgotten some tat vital present and end up stressing anyways.

I also always look forward to wrapping - I get to about item 4 and have a sore back, am pissed off with the sellotape and then one of the kids wakes up and I lose the will to live, never mind wrap.

Like teaonesugar, Dh and I take a day, no kids, and, armed with a list, do the whole lot in one go. We go to a shopping centre like Westfield or Bluewater so can periodically go back and load up the car. We also have a nice lunch.

No stress, just a lovely day

It is carrying the rolls of wrapping paper which drives me insane. They bang into everything and get mangled

The secret is to avoid towns and shop only in large villages! Grasmere, Betws y coed, Beaumarise, Chirk, Tarporley, Knutsford, Hope.

Course it does mean that all my family end up with presents along the lines of hiking boots and Kendal mint cake.

The trick to wrapping without the backache is to use the ironing board (pretty much all I use it for actually ) Keep your scissors and tape on the iron rest and you have a long flat surface at the right height to use that you can walk round to tackle bigger presents!

Last year bil had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and I found Christmas really, really hard to think about. Ended up doing nearly all my shopping in one day. This year is going to be different!

Love the ironing board idea for wrapping pressies! Will try that.

DH and I have a day planned on Friday for Christmas shopping but we will spend most of our time looking at ideas in John Lewis and debenhams but not actually buy anything, just getting a look at stuff, writing bits down. Then I can get busy next week on the computer, buy it online, free delivery most places, and no hassle.

Long lunch, few coffees I love our shopping day so much! Will make sure I walk him very slowly past the jewellrey section where I've seen lovely earrings!

oh dear that's very sad northernlurker. Must be very toughfor your family this Christmas.

Well in all honesty this year feels easier approaching than last - which was awful. He died in March and my sister has just set off on a round the world trip. She will be away for their wedding anniversary and away for Christmas and New Year (NY was a particular hard one for me last year - wanted to batter everybody who said 'Happy New Year') So we are going to see my mum and dad and hopefully it will be ok. Sorry don't mean to put a downer on the thread. I've always loved Christmas Shopping and it was really weird last year to feel so stymied.

Very sad to lose someone close. I remember shopping when my dad was having an operation for cancer. My mum wanted a distraction so I took her to M& S but it was weird and my mind was all over the place - I bought these really girlie pants with pink and red hearts on which I would not have normally bought. I just couldn't believe I was doing something as banal as shopping when my dad might not have survived a big op. But I now look at them sitting unworn in the drawer and they make me smile. We were lucky that he survived.