I have found a great way to reduce my Christmas to-do list. Its quite ingenious really....as the days tick by and deadlines loom, I simply start to drop things I was going to do.

For example, I was planning on making another few batches of cookies to bring to my brother's house....now, its off the list completely. So are various things I was going to make for our "pre-Christmas Christmas" at my other brother's house this Friday. My Christmas card list is getting smaller by the day and is teetering on the point of complete oblivion. And, you know what? I'm not stressed out about it any more. Instead I'm going to concentrate on the things I MUST do...like finish my stupid shopping.

And you know what else? I'm just going to come out a say it. I LOATHE shopping with Kieran. Since the day he was born he has been a poor shopper. I cannot remember a single time when he sat quietly in his carrier while I shopped. I see other parents with their babies who are nestled in their car seats fast asleep while their mother leisurely reads the label on the organic baby food and I seethe with jealously. In my case, for the past 18 months every trip to the store has been like that old "Supermarket Sweepstakes" game show. For the first year or so I had a 10 minute window where I just tore through the aisles throwing what I needed into the cart before his window of goodness would slam shut with a ferocious scream.

Now that we are well into toddlerhood, it's even worse. I avoid taking him out by myself whenever possible because he's just a menace. He hates his stroller (and always has) and, yay for me, hates sitting in a shopping cart even more. Even though his face is about 5 inches from mine, he holds up his hands in heartbreaking agony, sobbing uncontrollably until I pick him up. Then, naturally, he wants to get down and he's off like a shot on some path of baby destruction and danger. So, last night, in desperation I took him to the store, where within 2 minutes the above scenario started to unfold, and to make a long story short, I wound up throwing things into the cart to the tune of $100 at the checkout while having bought almost nothing that I actually went to the store to buy. I came home frustrated and even more frazzled and praying that Baby #2 will be a stroller-lover, or at least have a 15 minutes goodness window.