Sydney seems to be divided into two types of Christmas shoppers.

Group one are the organised kind who have everything beautifully wrapped and ready to go by early December.

Group two, which Sam and I belong to, will put off their shopping until the week before Christmas then race madly around a packed Westfield to find items that will have sold out – presumably to alll the people in group one. We will then drive 45 minutes to an outlet store/warehouse sale, airconditioner blaring to ward off the 30 degree heat,  in order to find a specific brand of coffee plunger or book. Panicked phonecalls to parents and siblings will follow to ensure right spelling of book’s author, only to see us arrive home and realise we’ve forgotten a) christmas cards, b) wrapping paper, and c) that Uncle Geoffrey is gluten free, so that giant Darrell Lea gift bag was a big mistake. We will then spend the night madly wrapping and writing on gift tags, yelling, “Do you think old brown paper do for wrapping Jenny’s Barbie make-up kit?” (answer: yes, add a ribbon it looks intentionally environmentally-friendly), staying up until 1am to bake shortbread we decided – on a whim! – would be fun to hand out to everyone as small gifts.

At least that’s how we spent our lead-up to Christmas last year. A part of me would love to migrate into the first group. I keep thinking it’s our circumstances that stop us from being organised…working full-time, having a packed diary in summer with no time to shop, being completely clueless when it comes to shopping for children (why oh why do they make so many types of lego?). But the truth is that we’re just terrible Christmas shoppers. We really are. And you know, I think I’m okay with that. We still love you heaps, even if your present comes wrapped in newspaper and with all the pricetags accidentally left on!

What type of Christmas shopper are you?