chilimak

Depends on how motivated we are. Last year we took it all down New Year's day, but that is unusual for us. We usually don't get around to it till around Jan. 7th. We always leave it up till at least New Year's Day. I consider that whole week between Christmas and New Year's to still be the holiday season and decorations still need to be up and Christmas music should still be played. Thats my opinion anyway. My youngest child's birthday is Dec. 28th, and we always have the decorations still up on his birthday. Thats just the way it is at our house, lol. Elena

We usually have my bil and his 2 kids over for Christmas dinner late in the afternoon. My kids show their cousins all their stuff. After dinner, bil usually goes home (2 doors away) and his kids stay for a while and play with my kids. Around 7 pm we all go over to bil's house and have pie there (we are always too stuffed from dinner to have desert right after dinner, so we wait a couple hours). Then, my niece and nephew show off their gifts and the kids play for a while and we just hang out and relax. It makes for a nice relaxing evening after the craziness of Christmas eve and Christmas day. Elena

We have a beautiful angel in a pretty red dress. She is holding 2 tiny candles and lights up. It can be always lit, or blinking. I like it blinking, but sometimes it ends up always lit. We have had her for years. I will miss her if she ever stops working. Our first Christmas together dh and I were somewhat poor and we put a cheap bow on top of our tree. It was rather ugly, but at the same time, cute. Although we never use that bow anymore, we still keep it in with all our Christmas decorations and see it every year and remember our very first Christmas together. I plan on keeping it always. Elena

Same here. Some gifts are from Santa, some from us. It would be weird if no presents were from mom and dad. My parents did it this way, so I do too. It just makes sense. All gifts are wrapped at our house. I try to wrap all the gifts from Santa in 1 or 2 rolls of paper that is the same, but I don't think the kids even notice or care. Elena

Usually sometime in November before Thanksgiving. I've noticed that the premium movie channels are already showing Christmas movies. I noticed both Prancer and Jack Frost were on yesterday. I figure, I only have about 2 months out of the year to be able to play Christmas music and watch Christmas movies w/o dh giving me a hard time. I will listen occasionally to Christmas music in early November, but the closer it gets to Thanksgiving, the more I play, lol. Elena

I usually get the 3 younger kids new pjs for Christmas and they open them on Christmas eve so they can wear them to bed that night. Its become a tradition carried on from when I was a kid. Other than that, I don't usually give clothes as gifts as I tend to shop for clothes year round on good sales. Like a pp said, a $50. hoodie is a gift. But everyday clothes from most stores I don't really do as gifts. Not yet anyway with my kids 10, 8, and 5. But in a few years I will probably be giving more clothes as gifts as they get older. Elena

I also do a sweet potatoe casserole, but I use canned sweet potatoes and walnuts instead of pecans. We went to Thanksgiving dinner at my brother's house one year, and my sister in law's sister in law brought it. We loved it, and dh made me get the recipe before we left. I made it the next Thansgiving and it was a hit, so now it is expected at every major holiday: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Elena

Not sure how other Wal Marts are, but our small town wal mart usually still has lots of the early deals left even a few hours after BF starts. Except for big items like trampolines, dvd players, etc. We have gone to wal mart around 10 am or later, and still found everything we wanted. Hope this helps.