nikkilugi

I would think staying open that late would be good for people who work 2nd shift and don't get off until later and go to bed a little later? Or maybe for 3rd shift people whose days are opposite of ours. I find as I get older, I go to bed earlier and earlier, however in my "younger" days I would often find very grateful that Target was open super late at the Holiday's, or find myself in a Walmart after midnight

I have a fake tree but we usually buy real. The fake is just as big of a pain to put up and fluff out as prepping a real tree. And my fake is not prelit so that is not a consideration. We like the frasier fur variety which run more expensive than pine - but the branches are nice and thick and will hold any decoration I put on it. I love the way a real tree looks and smells. As far as disposal - we just throw ours in the backyard. The birds and squirrels love to use them for shelter and then by summer the tree is super dried out and my boys cut it up and we burn it in our fire pit. It is kinda scary how fast that tree burns up - makes me remember to keep it watered during the holiday

I would not recommend the 4 gb. My boys needed a bigger HDD almost immediately. They play the fighting games like COD and Halo, and assassin' creed. Although you can plug in a flash drive, but some of the games require HDD space. I know Destiny required quite a lot. I don't know that 4 gb is even enough for that game.

I have bought my kids many things over the years and I have found that the items they just "have" to have, the novelty wears off way too soon compared to the cost of the item. However, with that being said - this is Christmas. This is the time to buy them what they ask for - not be overly analytic. The joy of the season is making other people happy. My boys were happy when they got that Roborapter or the Robofuy - whatever that they just had to have years ago. The look on their face when they opened it up was why I bought it for them. And then 6 months later when we sold it at our garage sale I just sigh and remembered the look of joy on Christmas morning. Now don't get me wrong - my daughter is 9 this year and she wants a Zoomer. I am trying to talk her out of it and have her think logically about the layout of our house and how much play time she will get with it. So far, no go, and that is fine - if it goes on her formal list then more than likely it will be under the tree. Because I want to hear that squeal and see that smile. That is the present my kids give me on Christmas morning

I liked the TSO show we went to - it is fun and worth going at least once in your life

Yes they will go on sale. In fact Amazon is running specials Gold Box and Lightning Deal specials on various Garmin's. FYI - I think Garmin is the very best brand to look at and is an industry leader. Their Connect website is fabulous and they have apps for your Android and Iphones for on the go downloading of data. I own a Forerunner 220 and love it. The Forerunner 10 is actually going to be a very good deal this holiday because MRP has been taken off - but they are phasing out that version and the FR15 will be the go to watch after the end of this year, FYI. The Vivofit and Vivosmart are the activity tracker bands and they are in a word...... AWESOME. They will also pair with a heart rate monitor. Love Garmin if you can't tell

I brine our Turkey for 24 hours, then I inject it and let it rest overnight in the fridge. On Thanksgiving morning I soak a cheesecloth in the leftover injection (Cajun Butter) and place it over the breast of the Turkey and put the Turkey in the Smoker. I smoke it and it turns out FANTASTIC. Moist and juicy and smokey and just wonderful. We use a Cookshack Electric smoker so I can just put it in and let it go while I cook everything else. I also make a ham. Honey glazed. Everything else is pretty standard fare - stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, salad and dessert. I don't like cranberry sauce so didn't do that last year - my dad complained - so I guess that is on the menu too for him.

One more question - Basically the same as Dylansmommy except regarding the price drop on the Xbox One. Do you think that price will stay at the lower point through Christmas? ($349/$449)? Or should I buy it now. I have limited hiding spots and nosey kids and prefer to wait a little closer to the event to purchase the BIG gifts - and this will be my son's Christmas and Birthday gift and a really big surprise because he is "sure" nobody will buy it for him since it is so expensive. (I am nobody, lol).

He does both. He usually gets the discs though - since they come as Christmas and Birthday presents usually. He does download stuff because he has to ask me before he does but I think it is mostly add on's to games like map packs. But I do know he is constantly complaining about the hard drive space on his 360, however, that is significantly smaller at 20GB. He is always having to delete stuff. I have bought him a flash drive too but I still hear complaining.

I always have good intentions to do stuff but life gets in the way with all of our "regular" kid activities. We usually go to the school holiday singers program at the local Barnes and Noble - the school uses it as a fundraiser too. We put up our own Christmas light display - our house is totally National Lampoons and I am the woman version of Clark Griswald. I am toying with buying one of those Groupon's this year for a Holiday light tour in a limo. My daughter would totally freak out as she has been wanting to ride in a limo. We live in the KC area so we have tons of formal light options like the Plaza and the Longview Lake Christmas display. The City Market does a "Whoville" Christmas with the Grinch - that sound like such fun so I hope to be able to get the kids there too. The problem with Kansas City is that living in the suburbs means that everything is at least 30 minutes away in this spread out city, lol. Gets to be a pain when at least an hour of driving (round trip) and the gas has to be figured in to our activities.

I have a question for the gamers on here. Normally I would ask my older son but I don't want to give away what I am thinking as far as my Christmas presents ideas for his brother. My middle son has asked for an xbox one - Call of Duty Advanced Warfare edition. He is telling me he wants it because of the 1TB hard drive - is the $100+ price tag for this version worth it? What I mean is, will the 500GB hard drive on the regular xbox one be sufficient or would he really need the 1TB? He does play games pretty much all the time. Anytime he is home - he is playing games. I am pretty sure he likes how cool the system looks but $100 is a lot for me to put out for a "cooler" looking system.

I don't usually ask him. I just buy stuff and he complains when he has to help me wrap things, lol. Usually that is the time he proposes just throwing everything out in the living room unwrapped since that is the way the presents will end up anyway. (I wait to put gifts out until Christmas eve). Now this year we are starting to butt heads already because my 2 youngest have been asking for kittens. Our cat is very, very old and pretty much never leaves our bedroom (she never liked the kids anyway since she came first). The kids are really pushing for kitties of their own and I am inclined to head that direction this year. My husband hates the idea because he doesn't like the cat boxes and trouble - however the kids will keep the cat boxes, food and water in their rooms since these will be their cats. Everything will be contained in their bedrooms like we keep everything in our bedroom for our cat. (our cats are only indoor cats). I do know that for an issue like live animals, I need to at least have the discussion. Although dh claims that our cat (old kitty) was acquired while he was out of town on business and he didn't agree - however, he was Mr. Snuggles with kitty right away.

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/pImages/email/2014/holiday/bn/miscellaneous/1103_GiftCardSolo_01.jpg Barnes and Noble

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/pImages/email/2014/holiday/bn/miscellaneous/1103_GiftCardSolo_01.jpg Barnes and Noble, sorry couldn't figure out how to get the entire pic to copy.

That's cool too. But if that TV is the only thing my child wants for Christmas and it is $200 on Black Friday/Thanksgiving evening (normally $350) then I am going to go get it. I think of it as enhancing my family life to make my kids happy by getting them the things they want on Christmas. Have a wonderful upcoming holiday season and a blessed day!!

1. Walmart 2. Both days 3. Thanksgiving 5 pm

Or maybe these people make time special with their family all the time and not just on Thanksgiving. I live near my family and we get together all the time to celebrate being a family. We have parties and fun together all the time and don't need a "special" day to get together. I have seen people mentioning that there are many people who have to work on Thanksgiving anyway and that is just ignored. Besides essential service people like hospital workers, police, fire there are also cinema workers - did you know your local movie theater is open on Thanksgiving?? Many families go to the movie together after Thanksgiving dinner (I know because I used to work at a movie theater as a teenager and had to work on Thanksgiving). Gas stations are open, and drug stores, etc. Life doesn't stop because it is Thanksgiving and many people just don't value this day as much as others - and that is OK. Don't shame others because they don't have the same opinions as you is all I am saying. Different people have different reasons as to why they support the earlier opening times and if their reason is important to them then it is valid regardless if they have family nearby or not.

A couple years ago at Wal-Mart I was waiting by the XBox 360 video games. There was already a bunch of people crowded around the game box and I was about 3 layers back. There was a friend up front though and they guided me to what side the games I wanted were on. At that point a young guy asked which games I wanted and said when the box opened he would get them for me (had been talking to my friend). He was probably 18? So the manager comes up and yells at everyone that they better act right when this wrap came off and let him out of the way before they started grabbing. Then the time came, the wrap came off and boom it was a free for all. People 3 layers back (where I was) were pushing forward, shoving and throwing bows. The 18 year old boy went down quick. I wasn't surprised. There was another guy right next to him that had heard me tell the boy what I needed and when the boy went down this guy, still fighting and pushing everyone back, grabbed the games I needed. It was the nicest thing.

He had a flash drive plugged in. I was told by both my sons that for Destiny it had to be HDD space only.

That is exactly the problem. You either need to delete stuff off your HDD to get the required space or get a bigger HDD. My son was texting me after we surprised him by buying Destiny for his 360 and he was immediately saying he needed me to go buy him a new hdd. Whoa - there. I told him to start deleting stuff off his current hdd - he was able to clear enough room to get the game to work.

Yes it can be used with Xbox 360 and it is what you use to get online and play with friends. It is pretty essential according to my kids.

I personally have not been very impressed with the deals so far this year. I hope more things I am interested in come up because right now it is very blah for me.

I liked the earlier times personally. I wish, though, that stores would open closer to the same time. I hated starting at Walmart and then needing to wait 2 hours to go to Kohl's and another hour to go to Target. I also hate, hate, hate long lines. I which some of the smaller stores with only a few checkouts, like Kohl's, Gordman's, and Dick's would work out a better system. I have been to the Finish Line where the floor salespeople have handheld scanners where they can check out people with credit cards. I LOVE that. Kohl's needs to do that too. Take an email address to send the receipt and kohl's cash code to - in and out.

I just tried and initially if I chose to shop now the coupon did not apply. I went ahead and manually entered the coupon code and it did take the $50 off the brown/gold galaxy tab 3.

Sounds like your dh will love you just like mine does when I have a whole jumble of things to be assembled on Christmas Eve, lol.