I don’t buy Christmas gifts for other people starting on December 26th, but that is absolutely my time to start buying Christmas decorations! I’ll buy a few come October or November when there’s better selection, but I can’t pass up 75% off if it’s something that only has to be “good enough”.

The big problem I have with buying Christmas presents that early isn’t that everything is too picked over, so much as that there’s just too much that can change in 12 months. Is grandma still going to be alive next year? (Morbid to think about, but she is 94, so it’s not exactly guaranteed.) Is Kate going to want to exchange gifts next year, or will we decide to save our money for a Girls Night? I know Laura and her husband are talking about trying for a baby — will that jacket still fit if she gets pregnant? Will my husband still want kitchen stuff next year, or is he going to become obsessed with golf and want stuff related to that, instead? There are just so many variables that unless it’s of those $2 things I could put in the “I just need a gift. Any gift.” closet, I don’t feel comfortable buying gifts a full year before they’ll be used.