Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.

The extreme Christmas shopping I had planned for today was a major success. I arrived at Highpoint at 9 am, parked right outside my preferred entry, stormed the centre and had all my presents bought by 11 am. After seeing enormous queues everywhere in Canberra for the past couple of weeks I was dreading the time it would take me, but I had obviously chosen well. I had the added advantage of knowing exactly what I wanted, which made it easy.

For those of you who aren't from Melbourne, Highpoint is a mega shopping centre. I've been a dedicated Highpoint customer since 1977 so venturing into the crowded shops in late December is a major part of my Christmas tradition. This morning I did briefly entertain the idea of heading over to Werribee Plaza as it has turned into a really good shopping centre, but I was completely certain that I'd be able to find everything I wanted in Highpoint. The riskiest present was one I was buying for Janet. I did have to go to three places before I found what I wanted. I was starting to wish I'd bought it in Canberra when I first saw it, but I hadn't wanted to carry it home on the plane. Mind you, it was in the shop closest to the car. I hadn't gone in there earlier as I didn't want to lug it around with me all morning. Yes, I could have taken it back to the car but then I would have lost my great car park. Important lesson for shoppers new to Highpoint at Christmas time - never, ever, ever take your shopping back to the car and then leave the car again. If you want to see your shopping again either go home or move your car to a far distant car park.

There's often debate in Melbourne about which is bigger, Highpoint or Chadstone, so I just did a little research. According to their websites Highpoint has over 400 stores while Chadstone has nearly 400. Chaddy has more expensive stores, but I'm a westie so I'm more than happy with Highpoint.

I called in at Sunshine Plaza to pick up some Village movie tickets and I was home before lunchtime. Everything is safely wrapped and under the tree or in my bag, ready to be taken to my sister's for the family Christmas extravaganza. I'm really looking forward to it.

On the exercise front, today is a rest day, so I enthusiastically rested. I was really pleased to discover that my knee wasn't at all sore after yesterday's run. Thank goodness. I had thought about going swimming, but thinking about it was all I managed.

The main difference for me this Christmas is that I will be running tomorrow. That's definitely a new one for me. I'm looking forward to that too.