Christmas to do list getting shorter

Tags

Christmas, lists, postaday2012, shopping

The list is getting shorter, hooray! The only thing about Christmas that brings the Scrooge out of me is shopping. I have never enjoyed shopping at all and the thought of hitting the stores with the hordes trying to figure out what to get for who, normally makes me shrivel internally. Yet today I had a very relaxing time of it. I went out early with a set number of stores and a specific set of gifts to buy in mind so I had purpose and that alone helped tremendously.

I am not divulging what I got because certain concerned parties read my blog and what is coming on Christmas day needs to be a secret until then, because what is more fun than being surprised on Christmas day? The shops everywhere were beautifully decorated and being at the stores so early made me feel as if they had opened the stores just for me. I was in and out so very quickly and the salespeople were so bright and cheery, still fresh from their morning coffee. I came away from my shopping experience with a smile on my face. Pleasant people, gifts acquired and I still had the whole day ahead of me, mission accomplished.

Divide it amongst yourselves

If I were able to clone myself, how would I divide my duties?

That's a question that, I think, lends itself to some reflection as to how would you treat yourself in clone form? Would your clone be in your estimation, a drone that you can boss around or an extension of yourself with your feelings and emotions?

I am horrible at telling people what to do and even at asking favors. I would even call it a character flaw because instead of reaching out for help, I will tire myself out by doing it all alone. I would make an awful manager because I wouldn't be able to delegate tasks to my associates either, because I wouldn't want to put them out or because I would be worried that they wouldn't do the task very well, so I would do it instead. These aren't fanciful statements, years ago I had a choice between being an assistant manager of housewares at Conran's or be its Catalog Coordinator. I chose being the Catalog Coordinator because it was a very independent position, I was more or less my own boss, but what I didn't count on was that I got two assistants in the bargain. They loved me as their boss because I would ask them very nicely to help me do things and I would just do the things that I could tell wasn't quite up their alley. They were very nice guys, Kevin and Steve, and we had a lot of fun making the catalog happen.

The reason I went on about my horrible managing skills is to illustrate that I wouldn't know how to manage my clones. If they each had a mind of their own, I would think that each would, on their own, do what needed to be done and we would work as a team without me having to tell them, explain to them or show them how to do it correctly. If they were just mindless clones, I don't know that I would use them to help, I could probably do everything faster and more easily on my own. I wonder if my reluctance to ask for help is a latent sign of being a controlling person? I never thought of myself that way but maybe I am on a very hidden level of my personality.