cami_reardon

What about two nights at a Bed and Breakfast or a nice hotel nearby so she can get away for a weekend?

I have about 150 presents there right now and 12 more in layaway plus I have to buy 8 more than that...now before ya'all think I'm crazy: My mom is 87 years old and she is in a wheelchair full time so I do ALL her shopping...plus my aunt is one of those that thinks she's too busy to shop, so I do all of her shopping too. Then I wrap them all up and just stick them under our tree with our presents because I get the Privelege *S* of hosting Christmas eve for the entire family (23 people) UGH!! But, it is fun. We cut back on our kids this year. Most of the time they each and the son in law have 15 presents and the three grandkids get about that many too, but this year they each only have 7 and we now hav four grandkids so they each get 10 (*L* gotta spoil the little ones) DH and I don't get each other Christmas presents because our anniversary is January 5 so we just do that instead and usually go away for a weekend.

I have ALWAYS just wrapped them after the kids and whoever else went to bed (on the day I bought them). The trick is, I don't put names on them. I use one kind of wrapping paper per person and keep a list in my wallet. Then I just sit them out in the living room by where the tree is going. I started doing this when our kids were very very little and I still do it though they are now 15, 17, and 29. The grandkids stay out of the gifts this way though :-)