I ordered all my online stuff early, most of it to my Ohio 'family', the only exception being some flowers for George's mum which I asked to be delivered today, her 80th birthday.

I've also received surprises from friends, thanks to the internet. Some beautiful cards, and a few gifts I wasn't expecting.

And most of the cards I sent appear to have arrived at their destinations, except for the one I wanted to get there the most :-(

Christmas will be a nice quiet couple of days for me, at home, with nice food, maybe a walk in the forest with my camera, and hopefully catch up with Terrapin and Turtlegirl again, as they're staying with another bunny just a few miles down the road from me.

I have to take my Dad shopping today. I AM NOT IN THE MOOD. Yesterday I had to take Dad to an appointment at the cardiologist's and to get there you have to drive by the mall and what is normally a seven minute trip ended up taking 40 minutes because of the mall traffic.

I am done with all my shopping with the exception of getting my nephew a present. I can get his present from Target which is thankfully not close to the mall AT ALL. Target has the added benefit of having some parking at the side of the building that few people notice.

I got most of my shopping done online. Everything showed up on time even in the case where I slacked. YAY.

The internet rocks for shopping.

I hate shopping in meatspace at this time of year, but if I could shop alongside my dad and talk to him while I was doing so, I'd find it a lot less stressful. Actually, I'd happily swap all my presents this year for standing in line with Dad waiting to pay for other people's presents. He's a cantankerous old brute though and millions of miles away, so YMMV.

Be nice to your postie too.

Almost everything has arrived, except for the present for my uncle's wife (which is the only part of the order that hasn't shown up yet--they sent each thing separately for some reason.) I'm hoping and praying that it comes on Monday. I have a couple of things I need to pick up on the south island, which is kind of a PIA to get to, but I'm hoping to get that done today. Apparently there are some boots at my friend's vintage shop down there that I just *must* see, so I'll do that at the same time. I can't afford them, but I'll look at them anyway, and weep.

GeckoDundee--thanks for the reminder. My postie is very very good to me--he even delivers my parcels because I'm on his way home and don't have a car (it's a rural route, so you usually have to haul your arse to the post office to get anything bigger than your postbox.) I have to think of something nice that will fit in the box and won't suffer from freezing--since I know him and his wife, leaving money in a card would feel weird. Would it be weird? I don't know.

The upside of making most gifts and picking up the rest locally: I didn't have to worry much about deliveries.

I did place one Amazon order, after the local bookstore told me they couldn't guarantee delivery by Christmas, and it arrived ahead of schedule! They predicted it would leave their warehouse on Dec 13th, but instead it shipped immediately and arrived the 13th. Thanks, Amazon!

As for my mail carrier: I haven't seen my year-round carrier for a week or so. Since she's the one I really want to thank, I'm waiting 'til after the holiday when the routes return to normal.