Let me start by saying that I was finished with my shopping. Done. Ready to wrap.

But finished can become unfinished pretty fast. And of course, the problems I had were with the two gifts I'd had the longest. Serves me right for trying to achieve some semblance of organization by getting my holiday shopping done early.

The first problem present was for my mom. She's a fan of the Disney villains and considers Maleficent (of "Sleeping Beauty") her idol. (Her students might say Maleficent is her alter ego and she wouldn't disagree. In fact, she'd be pleased they noticed.)

Internet geek that I am (Look at what I do for a living.), I hopped online and bought her a Disney villains nightshirt for her birthday, which was at the end of October. The online shop had an unusually long processing time -- something like two weeks -- so the nightshirt didn't make it on time. I resorted to a Maleficent T-shirt (Yes, there's a theme here.) for Mom's birthday and decided to hang on to the nightshirt for Christmas. Once the package arrived in the mail, I put it away and crossed an item off my holiday list.

Then, in early December, my sister and my father went to Disneyland for the Candlelight. (It's a very cool holiday event and I highly recommend you go if you can swing it.) Anyway, they brought my mother a gift. You can guess what it was. Now they were very careful to make sure they got something different. I described what I had. They described what they had. Not the same thing. No problem.

But surely you see where this is going.

As I was getting ready to wrap the nightshirt on Dec. 22, I took it out of the bag and looked at it for the first time. It took me a minute of dumb staring, but I figured out that the nightshirt I was holding in my hand was the one my mother already had. The online store (and no, it wasn't The Disney Store), had sent me the wrong one. I'd had it for weeks and I was just figuring this out now. Now?

Disconcerted and on the edges of gift-giving panic, I moved on to wrap the next gift, resolving to deal with what was shaping up to be a certain present faux pas in a very Scarlett O'Hara fashion. "I'll think about that tomorrow."

Next up in the wrapping queue was a present for my sister -- the DVD of "Rent."

It was easy enough to procure. I put my Netflix membership to work and had gift in hand some time in early November, probably about the same time the nightshirt -- the wrong nightshirt, had I bothered to look at the time -- arrived.

Setting the villainous nightshirt aside, I picked up the wrapping paper and reached out to the grab to the DVD, which I had left conveniently on the table by my loveseat.

Or maybe it was in the stack of magazines in front of my couch. The cabinet in the hallway where I stash things to keep them from the cat? My closet? The kitchen cabinets (where I also stash things to hide them from the cat)? In the car? Under the bed? In the desk? On the bookshelf? Under the couch?

Certainly it must be under the couch. Or the loveseat.

I looked everywhere. My apartment is only 800 square feet so there aren't THAT many places a mischievous DVD can hide. I looked in all of them. Twice. Three times.

The damn DVD was nowhere. By this time I had passed the borders of gift-giving panic and was well inside the town limits. I called my mom. Not that I thought she'd know where I put the DVD, but I hoped she might have some new ideas.

Had I checked the cabinet in the hallway? Did I look in the closet? Would it possibly be in the kitchen cabinet? What can I say? She knows me well.

Then she asked something I hadn't even considered.

"Have you thrown anything away lately?"

This is something of a loaded question in my family as we are all sort of packrats, but that's a story for another time.

I though about it for a minute, and I had tossed something. I had had a box that I was filling with old magazines and junk mail and other paper stuff. I vaguely remember the DVD case sitting on the edge of the box. Or maybe I just think I remember it. Anyway, inadvertently throwing the DVD away is the only thing that makes any sense because that sucker is not anywhere. At least not anywhere I can find.

So, I was zero for two on the gift wrapping front. And then I realized I'd need to run out and pick something up. Shopping in and of itself is not always a bad thing, especially when you consider that the parking gods had been kind to me this season. Still, there's shopping. And then there's shopping on Dec. 23 -- Christmas Eve eve. And a Saturday to boot.

I knew I wouldn't be the only one calling Gift-Giving Panic home. And that's what really scared me.

That and the fact I only had a small window of opportunity as I was meeting my mom and sister for a spa afternoon before the family got together for dinner that night.

So, I headed out that very foggy Saturday morning -- I wondered at the time if that were some kind of sign? -- and hit Target. The parking lot was fairly full, but I knew exactly what I wanted and was in and out of the store in 10 or 15 minutes. Then I hit Sportsman's. Another 10 or 15 minutes, and I was once again finished with my Christmas shopping. And I was actually pleased (mostly) with what I got -- a new "Rent" DVD and the newly released "The Devil Wears Prada" for my sister, and a bath mat set (It was on her list!) and a couple of bottles of zinfandel for my mom.

I was amazed at just how painless it was. Of course, I think it's because I went early-ish, but I'm not going to knock it.

And yes, the parking gods were again benevolent.