Give me some credit, it’s Christmas after all

Well, it’s Christmas Eve and I still haven’t bought a present for my beloved wife, nor have I made a purchase for my baby girl.

And I may not.

Partly it’s my nature to leave things until the last minute, partly I’m paralysed by fear of making a(nother) terrible gift buying blunder and in part it’s because I loathe the idea of buying babies presents they will neither need nor remember.

It’s also partly a product of having a daily limit on my new keycard, which is such a poxy device it puts me off shopping altogether.

This gripe stems from the fact I had to recently cancel my credit card in order to satisfy a loan application for a house. In cancelling my beloved credit card which was linked to all other accounts, I lost my access to the financial world.

Now that I have a new keycard (I feel like I’m 15 again), I am too aware of the wonderful consumer transactional world I’m excluded from.

My new card is swipe only. There is no smart chip, there is no tap and go or paywave, and there is of course no credit facility. You can’t even pay for all parking tickets at shopping centres without a credit card – it’s completely annoying and unnerving.

I know I should be out remedying this lack of gift issue now instead of writing about it, but it’s not that easy.

One year my late shopping habit saw me buy my lovely a t-shirt she thought was a complete joke (it wasn’t) and a CD single that I thought was a full CD (turns out it just had a big plastic cover to fool unsuspecting victims like me).

Most recently I purchased her a beautiful and expensive dress that I personally selected from a high-fashion store.

The result? We now have a firm rule that I am to keep all receipts from any purchases I make.

First-world problems I know, but hey, isn’t that what Xmas has become all about?

20.13pm: PS: I did make a late dash to the shops today and Santa will be visiting our house after all!