What's going on here?

Here it is December 4th (not 24th) and my Christmas notes have been mailed and I've finished my Angel Tree shopping. I've also finished shopping for my Spokane relatives and will have their package ready to mail on Monday, a full week or more before the UPS deadline for guaranteed delivery. What's wrong with this picture?  There have been years when I've paid big bucks to get packages to Washington on time and my friends expect that my Christmas poem will arrive sometime in the new year.  Now admittedly I do still need to do some shopping for local friends and family and I need to buy groceries for Christmas dinner but I do have 20 days for that and there I think is the key.  This year I'm retired which means I can shop any time, not only on weekends and evenings.  Yet another reason why I love being retired.