Sweet sweat

We seemed to have reached the dag end of the year. It must be 'Only xx days to Christmas!' because already the stores are full of garish red tinsel, plastic santas and enough flashing lights to bring on an attack of epilepsy. 'Deck the halls with balls of holly tra, la, la, la, la...' is still ringing in my ears from today's steamy Saturday afternoon visit to the dreaded mall. (Is that right 'balls of holly'? I always think of it that way but it doesn't really make sense. Maybe it's bells and holly. At least that would explain the ringing in the ears!)

On a subliminal level I must have been taking in the 'Christmas build-up thingo' for a while now because, seemingly independently this morning, I started panicking about my 'Christmas list' and sat down to actually write one. Might have been all the well-organised women at my flower arranging course saying they'd finished their Christmas shopping already!

I guess it's rather like packing for a trip - the requirements don't change that much from trip to trip or Christmas to Christmas -and my youngest son is always telling me I should write a generic list for trip-packing (that's 'cause he usually gets to lug my two huge suitcases from the airport and knows I always totally over-pack). The Christmas list is much the same; same people every year with a few additions now I'm getting to the God-children's-children stage of life. Every year same problem - total lack of inspiration - absolute desire to get each of them something they'll really like (preferably for a price that won't have me paying off the gifts into February - not that I've achieved this particular goal for many years now).

So here I was again, spending my Saturday arvo trudging round and round the neon-lit blandness of 'the mall', milling up and down the aisles of K-Mart, speculating idly on jewellry and crystal, checking out men's shirts -'hmm, would he wear that one in the really good quality fabric or scorn it because it was in tasteful pink and ochre checks?' Well I liked it and it was a very good buy!

I must be the world's worst shopper. I came home exhausted and footsore and all I'd managed to pick up were some sox and a few other assorted items of men's and children's clothing, a plastic caddy that I might pack as a gift basket, a child's hat that looks like a pixie's hat and is made out of Sth American seed pods, some wetting pellets for my dehydrated pot plants and a cheap box of laundry detergent.

Looks like many more trips to the mall between now and Christmas for me!