Every year I promise myself to come up with ideas for presents around October, so that I can buy them all in November and have a lot of time in December to focus on baking cookies and singing carols. Of course it never works and now the only thing I can do is wake up early in the morning and go shopping before everyone does, so that I won't have to spend few hours standing in the queue.
Another thing I promise myself is to buy something original. Every year I buy books and CDs and even though there's nothing wrong with them (the more books the better!) it would be nice to find something more personal, that says "I'm your daughter/girlfriend/granddaughter and I know you so well I bought you something no one else would ever buy and I know you'll love it".
Anyway, the most important thing is that you get to spend time with the people you love, so every year I console myself that even though nothing went the way I planned, that's not really what Christmas is about.
