Christmas brain.

It's that time of year when one becomes over enthusiastic about all things baubly and over estimates ones ability to organise.

Because it's the season to be silly, I have of course been working extra hours.  Right up until Christmas.
And I'm also trying to finalise travel details.

So of course I have invited friends over for a Christmas eve nosh up.

Yolinda was full of festive enthusiasm and had strewn the floor with Nigella cook books.
I was all for ordering pizza.

However a menu was decided upon and hubby dispatched off to the shops for ingredients.

The house and dog were cleaned up and all seemed to be going to plan.

But wait!  What about presents?  Are they bringing any?  Do we buy them any?  What's the protocol?!!

I decided to brave a drive to the mall on Christmas eve eve just in case.  I needed to pick up a prescription anyway and after all the mall is only a 5 minute drive away.

It takes me an hour. 

I battle crowds, trolleys, crying kids and Santas (yes the Santas were crying too) and finally fell into the optometrist shop.  A kindly and slightly harassed looking assistant picked me up and helped me with my order.

I passed the post office and noticed they were open.  (Post office open on Saturday?  Wow - anyone would think it was Christmas).  Because there are some books floating about in my car boot waiting to be posted to my sister I decided that today was a good day to post some.  I battled my way back to the car and grabbed some books and elbowed my way back to the post office.

After buying a satchel that would fit a small pony in (that was all they had left), I realised that I had left my phone at home and my sister's address was in my phone.  Never mind, I'll just ring hubby and ask him to look at my phone and.....  oh.

 Back to the car I trudged with books and satchel and contact lenses and toothpaste I picked up on the way, and steeled myself for the hour long drive to a home that was five minutes away.

I arrived home exhausted and with a thumping headache only to realise that I forgot to get presents.

So now I am desperately hunting through cupboards, thinking that I could re-gift the Christmas mugs that someone gave us last year.

I just hope it wasn't the friends that are coming tomorrow night.