Shortness

I always do flavored coffees for the coffee drinkers. Sometimes a variety of tea. Sometimes a gift certificate for a favorite espresso stand or Starbucks. Also chocolates for some. Organic soaps (were a huge hit last year)--as people with fragrance and chemical allergies will not likely react to these. I never do perfumes or chemically scented lotions, as so many people are allergic skin or breathing wise. Or, if it is someone who 'would' wear it, they might wear it to school and bother a child with asthma.

I like gift baskets too. I do that for family gifts a lot. It's nice, cause you can do a few things kid-related and a couple things for adults. Food and drinks--tea/coffee/cocoa/wine are always great. Throw in a couple small candles? Maybe a small gift card for a video store for a family movie night? Maybe a card game?

Last year, I started Thanksgiving evening. We live away from relatives, so it's always just us. My dh has worked the last couple Thanksgivings for triple time, so the kids and I started out decorating on BF, but moved it up last year. This year, probably BF. We'll see how anxious we get on Thanksgiving day.

I usually wait and see how fairly I've done it as well. This year though, it's going to be hard, as the kids have already become curious. They know I've been shopping for Christmas, as I'm not letting them see where boxes are coming from or letting them open them. I do have everything on a spread sheet, so I think I'll have to start wrapping soon. I'm just proud of myself for having most of the kids' shopping done. I usually don't get it done so early, so it's a huge relief. Now, just to figure out what to get dh and relatives...

Those are great ideas--both my girls enjoy taking and printing out pics--we share our portable printer, but they wouldn't mind having their own. The gift cards/cash would be appreciated by my oldest. My youngest would like them too, but not as much as my oldest. My 7th grader is into: Old Navy, Aeropostale, and she even likes Ross--as she has figured out she can get more for her $. Mine's also interested in magazines for her age range. She loves iTunes cards--and she has a Zune (we use it also for our mp3 players)--very easy to convert with typical computer software--kids can do it. My dd11: She asked for a Ds Lite and the "Drawn to Life" game--she also likes all the Mario Bros. games She's into art, so likes sketch pads, things to sketch with. Actually both girls are into that. She still likes crafts--Wal Mart and Michaels have some neat kits

Darn! I would have gotten this for my little pomchi... Would've been fun.

http://www.coldwatercreek.com/products/product.aspx?np=true&productid=24922&ensembleid=27199 That's the only one I found so far for $1.99. The next cheapest I found was $7.99. I first looked under scarves/hats, then I did word searches on each of the items in the OP. I'm tired, so not thinking well right now.

Hmmm. Might have to get this. We have 2 different Cadoos, and the kids really enjoy it.

I haven't received mine either. They haven't even taken the money out for my second order.

Do you know how long this lasts? Payday is Wed., and I would love to do some Christmas then. Great deal!

Those are really cute!!!

I haven't gone yet, but I am considering it this year. My dh keeps taking Thanksgiving to work, as it's triple time, and since we have no family here, I might as well haul the kids around to shop while he's gone. Dinner is always in the evening anyhow. I would like to find out if our Wal Mart will price match, as that's only 10 min. away, and the Kmart is over 30 min. So, you just take your items up to the customer service desk along with the Kmart ad?

I'm going to start doing more of this. It's so much more convenient than driving to the post office and standing in line for 1/2 an hour--and since many sites ship ground, it goes right to their doorstep, whereas, with USPS, many times the person will have to drive to the PO to pick up.

That's what I do, though I don't do anything specific--I vary each year, but kids get kid related wrapping. Santa just has a couple rolls, and I have a couple others. Santa writes differently than I do (he does block letters), and uses different tags as well.

Wow, that's a bummer... I was hoping the same guitar for gh2 would work for gh3... Figures. We're behind a little, and I just bought the gh2 bundle, so was planning on getting just the gh3 game to go along with it.

I'd have to agree... Do they "relist" items? I've had the radar detector up for quite awhile now, and every time I refresh it, the bar at the bottom is less (by that I mean more time) instead of more... clear as mud, I know...

Here are a couple--wal mart is currently out of stock online for just the game. They each have the bundle and the game, but the links I have are just the game for TRU and buy.com--the Amazon link shows both. TRU http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2792424 Amazon http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/105-7034201-8512439?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ps2+guitar+hero+3 http://www.buy.com/prod/guitar-hero-iii-legends-of-rock-game-only/q/loc/108/204881082.html

Gosh, that's great! I don't really need one, but now it's so tempting--and the colors are just perfect for my bedroom.

I prefer the white. I was so disappointed when I bought an artificial tree that had certain lights on the box, but came out all different colors--including PINK!!! Thing is, I didn't know it until I completely set it up. Should've taken it all down and returned... A pink and white tree would be neat, but not pink along with red, green, blue... It was a clown tree, and I'm not looking forward to it this year. I might see if I can figure out how hard it would be to detach them and completely replace. Thing is, they have the lights in perfectly measured out sections to fit the tree. Not sure I could duplicate. We'll see.

Thankfully, when I worked, we just did a Secret Santa exchange, boss included. It was nice, as it's hard enough to figure out what to get some family members (for me). If I had a boss to buy for, I'd probably do a gift basket of things they liked to drink/snack on--or a gift card to somewhere I knew they shopped/ate at.

I think it's terribly rude that he counts his gifts... I could see the situation being different if he were a child, but he's not... I'm an only child, and I think my mom tries to equal it out, but sometimes I believe she spends more on me. I think she just finds little things that she thinks I'll like. I tell her not to worry about me (and dh), just to buy for the kids. We don't exchange with his family, as we're all spread out, and it's just too costly for us all. If we did get together, I would not expect anything, as they don't know what I like or can use. It wouldn't offend me in the least. I think it's all about the kids anyhow. I enjoy gifts, but it's just not necessary to make me happy.

Last year, my oldest's class did a week of Christmas. They each picked a name, and it was secret. M-Thu, they brought one tiny gift, like candy, or something from the dollar store. On Fri, they brought in a $5 or so gift, and revealed their "secret". They had a blast. My middle dd just exchanged on one day, and my ds's kindergarten class didn't do gifts.

Well, I sent the PM--after the update, so hopefully I'll be joining you guys.

Ooops! I've been neglecting to look on this thread since the beginning. I saw that the Christmas card thing is sending cards to everybody on the list. Is the list available, so I could get an idea to how many I will need to send? If it's a huge amount of people, I don't know if I can do. Or, does anyone have a rough idea? Also, from what I've seen on this last page--we need to PM eve to let her know we are participating?

I'm also a solid purple.