There was a time in my life when I had my Xmas shopping done by Halloween and wrapped by Thanksgiving ... that allowed me to be totally shitfaced the entire month of December without getting in trouble in the present exchange department of interpersonal relations. However, in the nearly 19 years that I've been "sober" {insert exaggerated eye-roll here} my attention to (and tolerance for) the traditional holidays has dwindled.
Of course, I've been using Xmas as a handy excuse to eBay myself into incoherence, but 90% of that has been for Daughter #1 (although I am watching one thing for #2) and I have NOTHING done for anybody else. Of course, the circle of "anybody else" has shrunk quite a bit, and most of that The Wife takes care of. I wish I could come up with something "perfect" for The Wife, but the only thing she seems to be intent on getting for Xmas is new glasses (new persciption, etc.), and like the vaccum cleaner she wanted for her birthday, I just can't get into that. So I have two weeks to come up with a good idea there (last year I got her a nice 3-diamond necklace that I don't think she's ever worn, so jewelry seems "out"). I think I may get her a new computer since hers has been acting funky and that would give me a fair shot at getting on the "company computer" from time to time.
I think the only other group that I have some responsiblity for is my Brother and his family ... and I have no clue what we've done for them yet, if anything (he also has two young daughters, so The Wife may well have ordered stuff for them while she was burning up the modem line shopping for The Girls). As usual, I have no clue what to get for my Brother ... he and I have lived in different worlds at least since college (I was triple majoring in Religion, English and Art and hanging out with a Cult while he was off doing Wharton and then Kellogg), and he's been the Corporate Guy (with the healthy six-figure income) while I've been the Ever-Failing Entrepreneurer (and living on fumes). Almost anything I could think to get him would represent pocket change for him, and our interests are so different that it's sort of hard to pick something. Bleh. I've gotten him all sorts of golf stuff in the past, all sorts of gaming stuff, all sorts of sports stuff, and I never hear about them ever again, so I assume they just get stuck in a closet ... don't know what to do this year.
Of course, this is the first year of my life (since I became aware that it would be nice to give her a gift) that I don't have my Mom around to very carefully figure out a present for. I think a lot of my "getting extras for The Girls" is due to this also being the first Xmas in their lives where they weren't being spoiled by their Nana. It showed at #1's birthday, and it is certainly going to show on the 25th.
Hell, we don't even have our tree up yet ... I wonder if we could get away with just skipping it this year? Yeah, like that's going to fly around here.