No time like the present

I'm getting up bright & early tomorrow to go to an open house at a nursing school in my area.  There's going to be presentations on admissions, financial aid & that sort of thing, followed by presentations in each of the areas of study offered at the school.

That'll be over at 1, & after that I plan on getting some serious shopping done this weekend.  I have exactly one Christmas present purchased.  One.  And I didn't even have to shop for that.  It's a present for my MIL, which I ordered out of a catalog.  She's gonna LOVE it though, so I'm really excited!!

However, that's one gift on a long list of people to buy for.  Ughh...

I do this every year, & yet I never seem to learn my lesson.  Why do I not just start Christmas shopping early?  Why must I wait until mid-November to start when I know I'm going to have to fight crowds to get anything done?

Although I will confess one thing I am pretty excited about:  Black Friday.  Never in my adult life have I been shopping on Black Friday.  I started working in a retail Call Center when I was 19, & so Black Friday was a mandatory 10 hour day every year.  When you work in retail, the holidays are nothing but a giant pain in the ass - & Black Friday was the worst day of the year.

But now things are different.  I have an opportunity to use Black Friday for it's intended purpose, & I'm finally going to.  Plus, my cousin will be home from college for Thanksgiving break & we're going to make a day of it.  We're rational people, so we're not going to line up at 3 AM to try to get the doorbuster deals.  We're going to start at lunchtime...with lunch.  Shopping is going to be secondary to our love of Mexican food.

Is anyone else a last minute shopper?