This year I started Christmas shopping early.  I'm usually one of those people that like to think of the perfect gift, but can't make up their mind until it's down to the wire.  But this year, I started thinking months ahead on what to give to family members.  I made mental notes on what they needed, or enjoyed.  During the after Thanksgiving sales, I looked at the ads and found what my kids asked for.  I cross checked different store ads to compare prices and then made my "game plan" on what stores I needed to hit in the wee hours of the morning and at what time.   I'm not one for sitting and wrapping gifts for hours.  So I wrapped a few presents every day.  The week after Thanksgiving, I was all done wrapping presents.