A few days ago, I bought my first Christmas present. (No, no, not one for me. I buy those year-round. heh heh.) It's a book for my 13-year-old daughter, who reads more books than anyone I know. It's a brand-new book by one of her fave authors, but that's all I'll say because, although she's not on Goodreads, she's both clever and sneaky, and somehow she'll find out.

So now I'm ahead of the game on Christmas shopping. This feeling of euphoria will last until approximately December 20, when I realize that the book I bought this week is the ONLY gift I've bought so far ... and I'll make a mad dash to the Mall of America.

God bless the Mall of America. It has everything. Including, on December 20, a wild frenzy of mildly psychotic last-minute shoppers. Like, say, me.