pampam

With two impossible-to-buy-for people left on my Christmas list I've been checking my e-mails for late shipping deals and saved a few: www.Illuminations.com $5 express shipping for orders placed by 10 AM Pacific Time on Wednesday, Dec. 19. Express shipping option must be selected at checkout. www.gardeners.com Economy shipping for Christmas delivery valid through midnight, December 18. National Wildlife Federation at http://nationalwildlife.stores.yahoo.net/ Through noon, December 21 shipping fees will be upgraded for free to guarantee delivery for Christmas. This information appears in the e-mail but not on the website so I can't confirm if it's correct.

Three friends. 11 pets. I did my shopping on line earlier this week and the first package, from Petco, arrived on Thursday. After I pick up a bottle of wine and a couple of gourmet food items at the grocery store I'll be done.

November was brutal and I have no Christmas spirit. The tree isn't up, there are no decorations in the house and all I've bought is treats for friends' pets. On line shipping deadlines are coming up quickly so I'll have to spend Tuesday in front of the computer doing my shopping. Bleh.

3427! Word gets around. This year I've seen GottaDeal mentioned on several message boards that aren't deal related.

I've lived in different places in the South including Alabama for most of my adult life and have never heard of reversing the traditional turkey/ham arrangement. However, having a turkey and ham for Thanksgiving isn't unusual for a large crowd. On Christmas Eve I'll be attending a dinner party that a friend holds every year. She provides the meat- this year it's prime rib- and the rest of us bring appetizers, side dishes, desserts, etc. On Christmas day dinner will be with a friend and her mom. I miss family holiday dinners so very much.

My four kitty-girls always have special, more expensive food at Christmas and Thanksgiving. They also get a large plate of turkey, which they all love. Santa leaves presents for the kitties and this year there are two stockings full of soft toys and furry mice.

The forecast has been changing. Now instead of sunny and partly cloudy weather it's supposed to rain on and off for a week with a chance of thunderstorms on Christmas day. I just watched the 7 day forecast on the Weather Channel and there's a possibilty of snow showers a week from now. Could we end up with a white Christmas? I'll be following the weather reports closely for sure.

After unusually cold weather we're now having absurdly warm temperatures. The high will be 74 tomorrow and it doesn't feel at all like December. Now I check the Weather Channel before going out to see what to wear and if I need a coat or not. On Christmas the high will be 55, the low 39, with mostly cloudy skies.

Amazon's cut-off for free Super Saver shipping for delivery before Christmas is at midnight tonight. I've been going over my gift list to be absolutely sure I haven't forgotten anyone or anything. Otherwise all the gift shopping that's left to do is a couple of flowering plants, bags of chocolates for gift bags and a bottle of wine. I'll get all of that at the grocery store tomorrow and buy enough groceries to last until after Christmas, plus ingredients for the recipes I'm making for two dinner parties. Nothing is wrapped but I only buy for three friends and their pets so it should take an hour or less. My second tree is almost finished and it's the last of the not-optional decorating. That's it. By this time tomorrow I'll be all done and can relax for a week.

Late last night the tree was almost completely assembled and the lights strung when I had one of those Christmas mysteries. Why, when I needed one more string of multi-colored lights, were there none to be found anywhere? And why are there five strings of clear lights left when I only need one or two more? Same tree for five years, same way of stringing the lights with multi-colors inside the tree and clear lights on the outer parts of the branches, all lights stored in the same container. Bought more today and will finally finish later tonight.

The shopping is 95% done but the decorating is just beginning. I've been putting up the tree today and swearing that it will be retired after this year. Every branch has to be individually fluffed and hooked onto the trunk. When each layer is done, it's time to battle with the light strings. It's only half done and then I can do the more fun but still time consuming hanging of ornaments. I still have to do the mantel, finish the front door, put up a tree in the breezeway and decorate the dining room. My goal is to finish by Monday. Haha.

I've been waiting patiently for e-mails from various online merchants with tempting offers. Sure enough, the deals are available now... 20% off at Gardeners Supply; a sale and free shipping rebate from Sears; lower shipping, site-wide sale and buy-2-holiday-toys-get-one-free at Petco. Yesterday I spent the evening in front of the computer finishing my major shopping. With most of the gift buying out of the way I'm ready to decorate, starting with the front door today. The tree...yuck. I'm not looking forward to moving furniture to make room for it in front of the living room window and spending hours stringing lights and hanging ornaments.

Not as ready as I hoped with gifts. There are still a few left to buy and nothing is wrapped. One purchase is being put off on purpose. Last year in early December I bought 5 pounds of individually wrapped chocolates to include in gift baskets for people like my hair stylist, the man who takes care of my yard, the wonderful folks at my cats' vet clinic and friends. I hate to think about how much of that chocolate I ate. Decorating? Nothing yet. I'm an old traditionalist and it's far too early to even think about the trees and indoor decor. However, I may do the front door today.

I found the National Weather Service on line several years ago after getting fed up with the Weather Channel site's pop-ups and excessive ads. Even after eventually installing ad and pop-up blockers I stayed with NWS because they are generally more accurate and updated more frequently. The forecast for Thanksgiving/BF is looking good. Low of 43 Thursday night, high around 66 on Friday. Tonight is a different story... a chance of snow showers before 1 AM with no accumulation. It usually doesn't snow here until after Christmas.

I've never regifted but don't see anything wrong with it. However, I had the feeling every Christmas that my late husband's bro and SIL were regifting us with their unwanted wedding presents. It was a huge wedding and the church was packed so I assume they received many nice things. The gifts they gave us were impersonal, not what you'd generally give close family members, and definitely not purchased with us in mind.

A couple of hours ago there was a link to a story on Yahoo's homepage titled "Wal-Mart, Target start holiday price war". It can be found here> http://tinyurl.com/yfzjwj.

Usually a week after Christmas. Sometimes longer if I'm lazy because it takes so long to take the tree down. There are over 1000 lights and several hundred ornaments. The tree is one of the older fake ones that has individual branches and each one has to be removed, smushed, and crammed in the tree box. I have some friends whose dad had an interesting use for the tree after Christmas. He'd leave it standing where it was, remove branches one at a time and burn them in the fireplace. By February there was a dead stripped tree trunk in their den.

Most Belk stores are located in the southeastern US. Their primary focus is on name-brand clothing and accessories, high end cosmetics/fragrances and home related products like bed and bath, china, decor, etc. Their prices tend to be high. I used to shop at the local Belk and then find the same clothes for less at Goody's. Prior to Christmas there are frequent Belk ads in the paper with % off coupons. It's been quite awhile since I went there on Black Friday but the crowds were minimal.

Hopefully 90% will be done by Thanksgiving. I have no family and only have to buy gifts for three friends, their pets and my pets. And myself. One friend's is finished except for a bottle of wine. The other two have one gift apiece so far. I still need to buy each a major present and stocking stuffers. There's a list of pet gifts that's waiting on PetFoodDirect to send one of their occasional 20% off discounts. The offer is only available by clicking on an e-mail link. I still haven't bought myself anything but will place orders with Sephora and Amazon (and request gift wrapping).

I had a friend who would move her fully decorated tree to a spare bedroom and cover it with a sheet until it was time to put it out for the next Christmas. For me decorating the tree is a big part of the holiday. I find Christmas music on the radio, make hot cider or cocoa and spend a couple of hours hanging 300+ ornaments.

I had a unique surprise when I was 8 years old, living in Newport, R.I. in the mid 1950's. My dad was a Naval officer and one Christmas his destroyer unit was doing peacetime maneuvers in the Mediterranean. This was the only time he had ever missed being with us for the holiday and it made me sad. One evening there was a knock on the front door and my mom said it was for me. There stood Santa Claus who had arrived in a bright red fire truck that was parked in front of the house! I was awestruck to the point of being terrified. Years later I found out that Santa was really a close friend of my father. He'd stopped by after riding in the annual Christmas parade. What a wonderful thing to do for a child who was missing her daddy.

I buy for three friends and their 9 cats and dogs, plus my four cats. And to have something to open on Christmas morning I buy gifts for myself on line and choose the giftwrap option.

My late husband's grandmother was very difficult to buy for. We usually gave her food or gift certificates for her favorite grocery store. One of the gifts she liked and used the most was a set of nice assorted greeting cards plus a book of postage stamps.

Someone suggested http://www.recipecottage.com/dry-mixes/ in another forum and it's so comprehensive that I bookmarked it for future reference. There are over 200 recipes for mixes and those that are suitable for giving as gifts have clear instructions to attach to the jar.

Wow! I can't believe AOL is still doing the same old stuff. They got in major legal trouble five or six years ago for the identical billing problems you guys have described. I'd suggest finding the appropriate state/federal agency and filing complaints. AOL was my first ISP seven or so years ago. My debit card number changed and at the time I didn't realize that I had to notify the businesses that took automatic payments. So, with no warning my AOL account was suspended. There was no notice whatsoever that the payment wouldn't go through and they refused to accept my new debit card, saying I HAD to use a credit card. This insulted the cr*p out of me and made me very very mad. When I checked out some online complaint sites and read the billing horror stories I was actually thankful that I had escaped AOL so easily.