The Home stretch

It is December which means, not only have I officially entered the last 31 days of my challenge (Yay!) but it also means that Christmas is just around the corner. Soooo.... I have been spending a lot more time at the mall lately. Talk about temptation! But to be truthful, it hasn't been as difficult as I had anticipated because I have always found shopping for others just as fun as shopping for myself. So, in fact I think that the holiday season has given me the perfect excuse to shop, without the actual act of buying things for myself.....filling the shopping void so to speak! However I will admit that I have had a heavy hand in 'helping' my husband shop for me....but that's nothing new, I have always given him not-so-subtle hints about what is on my Christmas wish list. It's not that he is incapable of picking out gifts.....far from it actually....in fact there were gorgeous diamond earrings waiting for me in my room the morning of our wedding, he has picked out some of my favourite purses over the years and just yesterday he surprised me with a beautiful necklace with three diamonds on my 30th birthday (one for each decade). Sweet right? Come to think of it maybe I should think about giving up control and succumb to the surprise once in awhile....hmmm maybe next year :) 


But speaking of birthdays, December also happens to be my birthday month so, yesterday I was showered with gifts from my friends and family!! It was wonderful to have a few new things to tide me over for the rest of the challenge. Between that and Christmas, these next 29 days should be a breeze to get through! However some of the gifts have raised an interesting question. At the risk of sparking another controversy (a la the flat iron debate of January 2011) ...does spending a gift card count as buying something for myself? Or is it a gift that I just get to pick out? I tend to defer to the 'guilt factor' for advice when faced with a contentious issue surrounding this challenge. I ask myself, not only if I can rationalize it, but also will I feel guilty afterwards? There have been quite a few situations that I have been on the fence about....you have all read about my few loopholes....and in the end I haven't felt guilty about any of them. My first instinct is that spending a gift card is a little too close to buying something for myself, so to avoid any potential remorse I might just wait until January....it is only a few weeks away after all! Thoughts? 
♥ Lindsay