Outsmarted Myself Again

Was it, or was it not November about five minutes ago?  The holidays always sneak up on me but nothing like this year.  I feel like I’m suffocating under the weight of a thousand unsent Christmas Cards. Crushed by the packages that are still sitting in my bedroom. Buried under mounds of last-minute requests at work.  And all of this while an inane song about holiday gluttony, set to the melody of The Nutcracker,  plays on a garish, endless loop in my brain.

I was on a roll earlier this season.  Let me tell you, I was on FIRE. I took Gus to visit Santa (for better or for worse) the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Then I ordered Christmas cards with the unfortunate photo on them within the next couple of days.  They came and I addressed each one and stuffed them – all with weeks to spare.  And then they sat. And sat. And sat. Until yesterday when I finally bought stamps at the damn grocery store and sent the things out.

Likewise I bought all the little-kid presents for my family Christmas celebration which I will not attend. I lovingly wrapped each gift and attached cute little to and from stickers.  But given that I have only two days (both of which I’m working) to get them to someone who can deliver them… I’m just at a loss as to how the hell they’re going to find their rightful owners.  These are people I really only see once or twice a year.

But here’s my biggest Christmas FAIL.  I was so proud of myself too. So proud of myself, in fact, that when I discovered the epic fail it had become, I cried.

See, we’re heading to Canada for Christmas and New Year. So being sooo utterly brilliant I actually thought ahead and ordered some gifts for Gus on Amazon.ca (Canadian Amazon) so that I could avoid having to pack them on the way there, and so that I’d avoid having to pay shipping.  It was a brilliant plan.

I sent off the order and basked in the glow of my good sense and timeliness (they would DEFINITELY get there in time, even with super saver shipping!) and emailed my father-in-law to expect them.  I got the confirmation email and the email about my payment and I filed them away in my email folder for administrative things.

I was on a roll.

Well I noticed that I kept getting emails from Amazon, but I figured, in my brilliance, that it meant that they were shipping them separately since I had a few of different kinds of things, books, toys, cds etc.

Nope.

It wasn’t till I got an email with the subject: Your Amazon Order Has Been Cancelled that they finally got my attention.  All this time Amazon had been emailing me because I must have entered my credit card number wrong or something. Usually they just don’t let you confirm your purchase when that happens, right?  I mean, right?

“But don’t worry!” the Amazon email chided, “You can always place your order again!!”  umm… no. I can’t.  I mean I *could* but there’s no possible way it would get there in time.   That ship had long sailed, unless Santa was going to deliver the thing hisownself. (which, actually, isn’t the North Pole technically IN Canada??)

Maybe it’s a little thing. I mean really, it was a few board books and a Raffi CD for crying out loud.  Nothing I’d miss (and, honestly, nothing Gus will miss either).  But what upset me is how typically, utterly, ME it was to ignore the warning emails, to believe that it was all hunky dory until BAM. Too late.  I was proud of myself because it’s typically utterly ME to think of ordering from Canadian Amazon only *after* Christmas and think, that would have been a great idea… oh well.  But this time was different. This time I was going to be super mom. I was going to have the bases covered.

Except I didn’t.  Lesson learned. Moving on…

By my next post I will have finished work and immersed myself fully in the Christmas spirit.  Till then, here’s something to make you smile and remind me that the sun will come out again… even though it probably won’t be tomorrow. wtf?  These are from two short weeks ago when we spent a gorgeous December day playing in the sand (and Masa in the water!) at Venice Beach.  For those of you not in Southern California, note that we’ve had literally about a year’s worth of rain in the last five days.  If Noah jokes weren’t so tired by now? I’d totally make one.

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