I'm a personal shopper, but I don't get paid...

Christmas is quickly approaching, or haven't you noticed? The stores have been decorated since September, for heaven's sake, so I'm sure the fact that Christmas is approaching can't have escaped even the least observant person.

This year I have started my own personal shopping business, only it's not a business, which of course means I don't get paid either. Hmmm... how did that happen?

We're blessed to have lots of loving, generous people in our lives, all of whom want to buy us Christmas gifts. What could be wrong with that picture, right? I'm grateful... really. The dilemma here, if you can even call it that, is that I'm the personal shopper and/or giver of gift ideas for seemingly everyone. Many of you are probably in the same boat. I guess it's a mom thing. Everyone asks me what to buy for each person in my family. Does that happen in your family too? Are you responsible for insuring everyone gets exactly what they want for Christmas? I understand asking what to buy for the kids, but why can't people just ask my husband what he wants instead of going through me? I have to rely on lists to help me remember who I told to buy Matthew the Star Wars Lego "whatchamacallit" this year, otherwise he may be receiving two of them! I'm telling you, my hair hurts from all the thinking my overworked pea brain is having to do right now.

This year I'm also actually DOING the shopping for a couple of people. Now... I'm not really complaining about this part because there are extenuating circumstances. My mother-in-law fell a few months ago and broke her hip and leg and injured her shoulder. She's doing great, but is still recovering. She sent me money and asked me to shop for my family. I'm fine with that because the woman physically is unable to go shopping. She has been pardoned.

I've also been doing part of my mother's shopping this holiday season. I gathered the gift ideas from everyone in my house, emailed Mom our wishlist, including where the coveted wishlist items could be found (catalog or store). If the items were found in catalogs, I included the phone #s, item #s, page #s, cost of the items... You get the picture. Some things she ordered via telephone and the other things I had to order online because she has a dinosaur computer and just simply can't do the online shopping thing. I feel sorry for her because, frankly, I don't know what I'd do without the ability to shop online. I rely so heavily on the internet for holiday shopping. Without it, I'd be completely insane rather than just partially insane, like I am now. So... I helped out my mother and I'm okay with that.

I've given gift ideas to my sister-in-law too, however, I still have to communicate with both of my brothers, my grandmother and my aunt, who are all waiting for me to come across with a list of gift ideas as well. Again... it's a blessing to have so many people wanting to give to your family, and it seems a downright sin to complain about it. It's just that it sometimes physically and mentally exhausts me beyond words. There are times when I just want to tell people to get us whatever they want us to have, but then, that could be disappointing and perhaps scary. And then there are times when I'd like to tell people to just give a gift to a family in need instead of giving to us, which I really should do knowing there are lots of needy families and we simply have more than we need. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or tick anybody off, particularly since I know they're being thoughtful and generous in wanting to get us (namely the boys) things we really want. It seems there's a fine line between selfish and unselfish, but I have a hard time determining into which category I fall. I've tried to explain this sometimes difficult situation, but I don't think I got through to anyone. So... I guess it's just part of my purpose in life - to be the personal shopper for everyone. Sigh...

Oh yeah, I still have my own shopping to do as well. I hope I didn't give away all the great gift ideas to other people, which has happened a time or two over the years. Now where on earth did I put that wishlist?