Present palaver!
Childminder Stephanie Fisher, 38, from Harpenden, Hertfordshire, is mum to Holly, nine, and Jessica, six.
‘My daughter Jessica’s birthday is on 7 December and, last year, I thought I’d be extraorganised and buy her birthday and Christmas presents in September, along with her sister’s Christmas presents, too. I bundled them into two bags with their names on, and hid them out of sight.
When Jessica’s birthday came around, I got the bag of gifts with her name on out and wrapped them all up, but with so much going on in December, I completely forgot that half of them were meant to be held back for Christmas.
And, although I remember thinking at the time she had quite a lot of presents, I was so busy I just put them out and enjoyed watching her open them the next morning.
It wasn’t until Christmas Eve, when I got Holly’s bag of toys out to wrap, that I realised what I’d done – and that Jessica had no presents for the next day!
All of Holly’s gifts would be far too old for her, so I couldn’t even give her some of them.
I bundled Jessica into her coat and dashed to my friend’s toy shop. It was rammed, but I walked Jessica up and down every aisle, and when she squealed with excitement over a toy, I’d nod to my friend, who hid them behind the counter for me to buy – while an assistant distracted her.
That night, after I’d bathed both my girls and put them to bed, I treated myself to a large glass of wine as I hurriedly wrapped the presents in time for the next day. I definitely won’t make that mistake again!’
A Bad Moms Christmas is in cinemas now.