Bopeep

It occurred to me the other day that for the first time in my life, Santa will not be coming to my house this year. Growing up, we always went out to look at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve, and while we were gone Santa came (we did this because we had to get up and go to someone else's house for Christmas day, and my mom didn't want us to be rushed with our new toys). We continued that even after we "knew", and I continued the same tradition with my own children. When my oldest son got married and their babies were born, they lived with me. This year, they moved in to their own home. Obviously, Santa won't come to Grama's house AND their house, so everything under my tree on Christmas Eve will have come from me. This saddens me a little. I tried to explain this to my youngest boy (19), and he totally doesn't get it. So, am I being totally stupid? LOL

I didn't even know you could do that. That is awesome!

Santa Came (Actually, he came yesterday, but I was off becoming a great aunt so I wasn't here to receive). Thank you so much Santa! I can't tell you how much I needed the kitchen towel set - my potholders are down to having to be doubled . Also got some bath soak beads (you can bet I'll be putting those to use this weekend), A Sweat Pea candle and Sweat Pea Room spray (My favorite scent), some aloe socks, and 2 (YES, TWO!!) bags of chocolate covered peanuts! I am so blessed. http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k499/ts1852/IMG_4850.jpg

I am excited to give my DS19 his new bow. He's constantly shopping for it, hoping it goes on sale, and trying to negotiate a payment plan for me to pay for it (which does no good when I can't afford to pay for it in the first place...because I already bought it!) Of course I'm also very excited to see the looks on my grandbabies' faces when they see everything everywhere!

Oh crud, I forgot stockings!

We never have gifts under the tree until Santa comes. I always forgot to make something from me, but luckily my kids never noticed that they didn't get anything from Mama for Christmas. LOL

I am finished with my shopping. I've wrapped everything except the grandbabies' gifts, because I may need to share some of those with Santa Claus and I'm not sure which ones yet . This is actually weird for me, because I hate wrapping and I usually wait until 2 days before Christmas to wrap ANYTHING!

My biggest purchase this year was a new bow for ds19. Bought it on eBay for $340 including shipping. That's $60 less than I found in any store. He has no idea, (kept saying I can't afford $400 for 1 gift) and I can't wait to give it to him!

I don't know how many volunteered to be an elf, but I'm available if you need me.

The Amazon reviews for this vacuum are very good. Unfortunately, it's out of stock .

WOW!

Congratulations Pogiporkchop! You deserve it.

I received my ornaments today and I could not be more excited! I love them all and can't wait to put them on my tree. Thank you so much Swampbaby! http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k499/ts1852/IMG_4771.jpg As usual, I couldn't get the photo to resize. Sorry it's so big!

Academy was closed Thursday, and opened at 5:00 Friday morning. Obviously, I don't know what their total numbers for Friday looked like but judging solely on the crowd that was there at 5:00am I don't think being closed Thursday hurt them, lol.

That snowman is super cute! My tree has always been western themed. Until last year, every ornament on my tree was somehow cowboy related. I'm trying to move away from that though, so I'm adding more ornaments of all kinds.

I am mostly done. I just have to get my new train set up under the tree. I hope it works out the way I see it in my mind .

Mine are wrapped and ready to go. Just have to print the shipping label and get them out in the mail. Hopefully tomorrow.

The Walmart we went to was crowded, of course, but I was impressed with the way they managed the checkout lines. They, too, had the area roped off so you had to get in line at designated spots, then employees directed you to registers as you got to the front of your line. We were probably in line 15-20 minutes. I've seen much worse. Target was next and I was amazed how quickly we checked out there. We had never gone to this particular Target (Moore, OK) on BF, usually we go to a bigger one in Norman, OK. I do believe we will go to the Moore store from now on. Not very crowded. The movies and games were very organized. The only thing we wanted that we didn't get was the sleep tees, and they weren't gifts so no big deal. Of course, we weren't after any major hot items. After that we went to Gordmans, and again found it to not be nearly as busy as years past. And as near as I could tell, they still had plenty of every doorbuster available. Their ad was not nearly as big as usual this year. I think the craziest store we hit this year was Academy at 5:00 Friday morning. And even they weren't as bad as I've seen them in previous years.

I got most of what I was after. Looks like How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Planes Fire and Rescue will just be in store. We'll either get them or we won't, I guess.

Unfortunately, we don't know for sure what will be available online yet. But what item are you looking for?

http://www.jcpenney.com/for-the-home/kitchen-dining/small-appliances/bella-3-liter-deep-fryer-%2410-printable-mail-in-rebate/prod.jump?ppId=pp5004880571&catId=cat1004820056&deptId=dept20000011&topDim=Brand&topDimvalue=bella&dimCombo=Brand%7C&dimComboVal=bella%7C&currentDim=Brand&currentDimVal=bella&_dyncharset=UTF-8&colorizedImg=0900631B818D0A97M.tif&urlState=/for-the-home/shop-sale-clearance/black-friday-deals/bella/_/N-gm8s48Z1j8/cat.jump I think you have to get to the product from the Black Friday links on the home page. I had saved a couple items earlier and they didn't show the rebate unless I clicked from the BF deals. Hope this helps.

On the item listing, there's a link to print the mail in rebate. I just saved the .pdf just like I do the ads, and I'll print them later. I'm glad to say I'm done with Penney's and won't have to go there.

I feel totally unprepared this year! We are pretty sure we have to do Walmart first, but we don't even know which Walmart to hit. Where we've always gone was WAY too crowded last year with the early early start times. I'm trying to get as much online tonight and we'll just wing it tomorrow night. Wow, I've never "just winged" Black Friday before! ARGH! I'm not ready!!!!! LOL

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11888563&cp=2255956.2262937.13133718.12433693&parentPage=family Several of the Innotab cartridges are marked down to the 12.99. I also got the Rock Elmo for the sale price. http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11844990&minCartRedir=TRU

The video tells you that you can line up 2 hours early to get a wristband for that item.