decafmom

Oh, I hope it makes it there!

The same thing happened to our reindeer last year. My son's friend is the one who did it. He is home from West Point right now, and oddly enough someone else's reindeer ended up like that this week. I cracked up when I saw them. I don't mind harmless pranks like that. :)

This is an iffy statement about shipping though... Availability: In stock. Processing takes an additional 4 to 5 days for orders from this seller. Ships from and sold by eToys. Want it by Dec. 22? View this seller's shipping details.

How much do you want to spend? How about some unique kitchen utensils tied to a poinsettia plant or miniature Christmas tree?

THIS is what the holidays are about. I wish more people had her spirit!

Sounds like you had a nice night!! Dh and I typically watch Christmas Vacation and wrap gifts. The good thing is we don't have tons to wrap although we have not wrapped a one of them yet! We don't buy a lot for the kids, so we should be done before the movie is over. :) I don't know when we'll fit it in this year, but it will happen.

Am I one of the few here who thinks it's crazy that someone would even worry about HOW MANY Christmas gifts they give? It kind of sounds like a competition. I thought Christmas was so not about that.

Something else I usually make this time of year is mint brownies. I just buy the Wal*Mart brownie mix as I think it's the best out there and bake them according to the directions. When I take them out of the oven I pour a bag of Andes baking bits over them. The heat causes the baking bits to melt just enough that you can spread it after a few minutes. These are always a big hit around here.

At this rate I'll be lucky to get them under the tree by the time they wake up Christmas morning!

Well, right now I'm more antsy over everything NOT being done. I have never been this far behind, but then again, I've never had surgery a few weeks before Christmas. It will all work out though, so I'm trying not to panic.

Mine came in today's mail. Yippee!!

We LOVE chocolate covered potato chips. In fact, we have a chocolate fountain we're taking to a party on Sunday and I bought pretzels and potato chips to take with it. It's a great combination! I had a hysterectomy a little over a week ago, so my Christmas baking is not going to be like it usually is. I do have sugar cookie dough in the freezer and peanut butter cookie dough in the refrigerator. I planned on making banana bread today, but my plans are on hold for a visit to the pediatrician for my youngest. I typically like to make a few kinds of interesting cookies (I made these awesome yeast based cookies a couple of years ago that we LOVED), but this year it will be pretty simple.

I would suggest calling before bringing food to share as well. The hostess might have the evening prepared, but she might not. I agree on the housewarming gift. Since you're not familiar with their tastes, a beautiful poinsettia this time of year would be nice along with a bottle of wine. I wouldn't go overboard. Do you have a winery close by? If one is not close, do you have local wines that are sold at your grocery or liquor stores? It's always nice to share in something local. Lastly, have fun! :)

LOL...but if you think about it in terms of a say, flashlight, the little flashlights use little batteries. The BIG flashlights use big batteries.

I love them all. AWESOME job! I am always amazed by other people's talent. I have none when it comes to crafts. You should start selling them on eBay - you could do personalized one with kid names and such. I would buy one!!

I'm just thinking it was awfully small if 200-300 could fit in one box! I agree with the other poster about mentioning you hope the next box is the batteries you ordered!

Oh, another Pokemon fanatic. My six year old is completely obssessed with Pokemon. I ordered a few things from the site...a calendar, a puzzle and a movie. You can find a few things in the stores, but the selections are usually pretty limited. Does he have a Pokemon guidebook? They have a cool one you can get at TRU or Best Buy right now. I'm sure you could get them elsewhere too. Here are links to two of them. One was just released in August 2006, so it's fairly new. My youngest is receiving it and it will probably be his favorite gift of all! His letter to Santa said he wanted "a Nintendo DS and all the Pokemon stuff in the world." I told him he couldn't have all the Pokemon stuff b/c that's too much and other kids want Pokemon stuff too, so he crossed it out and changed all to "some". :) http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7963778&st=pokemon&lp=4&type=product&cp=1&id=1153337209353 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7862903&st=pokemon&lp=5&type=product&cp=1&id=1142300987507 I think both the books are 20% off right now.

Well, I have to know, WHAT is it? I'm sure it's something the UPS man has seen before, so don't sweat it. He'll probably just be wishing he had a wife like you! LOL

I always fix beef tenderloin, creamed spinach and homemade yeast rolls on Christmas Eve. I would love to add lobster tail this year. Does anyone have experience ordering them online? What about cooking them? Are they really easy to fix? I would love to surprise my parents and ILs with this at dinner!

We give our bus driver a Wal*Mart gift card for $10.

I've never had great luck with any candles. It seems that the scent doesn't last very long. If I light the candle and leave (never leave it alone, only when someone is here) and come home I would expect to smell it and I never do. I had crappy customer service at Fazoli's the other day. I wanted to buy gift cards. The girl at the register didn't know how, the guy she asked didn't know how, but they told me the manager was on the phone and if I wanted to pay for my lunch, eat and then come back someone might be able to help me. Ok, yes, I want to stand in line at lunch time on a Sunday. No thank you! I sent an e-mail but haven't heard anything yet. Shouldn't the people working the register be able to sell gift cards??

If you already bought him a PSP and an iPod Nano and you're only looking to add to his gifts so it looks as if Santa brought something, why not leave one of those out from Santa? He knows the deal. I would not keep buying just to keep up an appearance. I'm in a similar position - my boys are 18 and 6. Santa leaves one gift for each of them plus their stocking and the rest is wrapped up. I don't spend the same amount on my kids or worry about who gets the most. I get them the things they want (within reason!) and leave it at that.

Sorry to hear that! My youngest drops his SP all the time! He finally got to where he says he won't play it in the kitchen b/c it's not carpeted. Guess he gets it from me though as I'm always dropping my cell phone.

Yep, I've been watching it. I wouldn't mind a Porsche. :)

Could you do a treasure hunt and have both the gifts in the same place - they have to work together to find the hidden location? I did this one year with ds's gifts b/c if I wrapped them he would have guessed. The thing he wanted the most was hidden in the dryer when he followed all the clues. It was a FUN Christmas morning!