Making a list, checking it twice.

Ahhhhh....sigh.  The most wonderful time of the year is upon us, yet again.  I have loved Christmas from the time I was a little baby Super Blonde.  Having an enormous family, the Christmas season is the time when we all get together, sit by the fire, laugh, hug, remember making plans to catch Santa in the act, and sing Christmas songs.  Yes, seriously.  We really do that. The magic in the air is something I look forward to every year.  I usually start playing my Christmas music before Thanksgiving and don't stop until I take my tree down at the end of January.  True story.  The smell of cinnamon, baking goodies, frosty air, snow, family....these things are Christmas to me. 

Cue the sound of screeching tires.

There very few things that kill my blonde buzz faster than shopping during the holiday season. What has Christmas turned into?! Screaming babies, crowded stores, overpriced merchandise, and a general cloud of misery do not a happy shopping experience make.  There are few things Super Blonde likes more than shopping, so to make this experience miserable is quite a feat.  But, nonetheless, it happens each year around this time.  I usually find myself doing three things when I go Christmas shopping:

1.  Cursing at total strangers who dare to get in my way. 
2.  Getting pissed off that this retail disaster is what Christmas has turned into.
3.  Getting distracted by something pretty and buying it for myself.

Due to the fact that I am a procrastinator by nature, I usually leave my shopping until the very last minute and find myself among a mall full of husbands, brothers, and boyfriends (and any other male role to fall into).  Yep, just me and the guys. 

What is your holiday shopping game plan?  Do you tediously cross things off an itemized list?  Or do you wing it like me?