Don’t swear at me for telling you, I’m simply providing a community service. So if you are wondering what to do over the weekend, take this as some free inspiration.

For once – and it has happened on only a couple of occasions over the past decade – we are insanely organised  in the O’Brien household.

While we’ve never really slunk to the lows of leaving our Christmas shopping to the eve of Santa’s arrival, we’ve come darn close.

Well, the wife and I had a kid free day on Monday (don’t panic, they were at school, we didn’t leave them locked in the car) and decided to put it to good use.  As a result, we got the bulk of our Christmas shopping done. Almost totally completed.

Therefore on Christmas eve we can sit back with all the other smug buggers sipping eggnog, singing carols and laughing while the other poor unfortunate souls scour the shops in crush looking for the now out of stock key items they so desperately need.

Now the wife and I share quite different tastes. Likewise our ideas for what makes a good Christmas present for our two girls can be a little varied.

I felt for certain the girls would appreciate the candy fairy floss maker which looked like a “sure thing” from the department store, but my wife vowed I would not make it to Boxing Day if I added one to the trolley. Spoilsport. Then, we happened to walk past a pet store. Apparently goldfish were not an option either. I know, right? She’s no fun.

Nor were the hermit crabs you could buy. Nor did she appreciate my chuckle when I said how funny it would be to tell people we got crabs for Christmas. Clearly no  sense of humour as well as a distinct lack of yuletide shopping spirit. Oh well, hopefully Santa will see it a little differently.  Good luck on your Christmas shopping and remember the clock is ticking.