It's only a month until Christmas - that's four weeks people!

I know, it's a bit of a shock. It has taken me quite a while to figure-out this crazy timeline too.

With such a funny year and nothing feeling normal, it just didn't seem that Christmas would really ever arrive or be at all Christmassy in 2020.

Now, even though I have no idea what the current 'bubble' situation is with coronavirus restrictions, I've come to realise that we'll be celebrating on December 25 no matter what, so I had better get cracking!

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Strangely, my three daughters have not been remiss in making gift lists, so I need to arrange the financing and logistical sourcing of all listed items.

Buy local everyone, or we'll have no shops by next Christmas, although if your teenager wants Spotify Premium, I won't deny that it's going to be tricky.

Actually, many things on the teenagers' lists are impractical, impossible or inadvisable, but what can you do right?

Realising that Christmas is coming is one thing, but it doesn't pay to get too far ahead of yourself.

Once I'd absorbed the fact that Christmas was actually coming, I figured out that Christmas would also be going, and then a post-Christmas beach holiday would be in order.

We tossed around the idea of booking our usual spot at the beach in Adelaide, but thank goodness I got distracted cleaning up after the puppies and dealing with my three teenage girls and therefore failed to peak too soon.

A wave of memories about our expensive tickets to the cancelled stage show 'Harry Potter and the Curse Child' has since washed over me, and with the border to South Australia shut again, I've started thinking that rural Victorian beaches are looking a lot more attractive these days.

Making plans for the future really has become a thing of the past.

For the present, wielding a garden hose or watering can has become my only hobby as keeping the garden alive is paramount when it's your only view for the foreseeable time ahead.

Luckily the fireplace gets a few months off which frees up precious watering time.

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