‘It's christmas on ice for me'

Put these together, and it makes me the perfect Christmas shopper.

And by ‘perfect’ I mean, the annoyingly over-prepared shopper who has all of their presents bought one month in advance. I am that person who drives everyone around them mental, by boasting about actually enjoying the festive season and not worrying about rushing into the shops at the last minute.

A friend of mine told me that he never gets his presents in advance, and bragged about his method, saying it works out better for the recipient because you wind up spending a fortune closer to the time in order to alleviate your concerns about not having a gift at all. Granted, I may be the one who benefits from this practice, but I don’t come from that school of thought.

You won’t see me in town on Christmas Eve fighting with other last-minute buyers, climbing over each other to get the last of - well, anything. Come the eve of Christmas Eve, my presents are wrapped and tucked under the tree. But thanks to a friend’s recent birthday, which has all but bankrupted me, and the Big Freeze we seem to be experiencing, I haven’t had the opportunity to indulge in my guilty pleasure.

So, thank you very much Mr Blizzard for your minus 17 temperatures, I didn’t want to leave my house anyway! Now it looks like I’ll be trudging along to town along with everyone else before Christmas.

At least I can console myself with my annual present to myself, this year it’s this ring from Rocks (branches on Grafton Street and Stillorgan in case anyone fancies buying it for me — no pressure), which has taken my fancy (it costs €145).

I’ll see you all on Christmas Eve — I’ll be the person fighting you for that last scarf.