sbixby

I do all the Christmas shopping (because I get more bang for my buck AND really enjoy it) so I usually end up buying MOST of my own gifts because I can use points, Kohls cash and such. And I REALLY get a thrill out of that and it works for my family. So I KNOW I am getting an Instant Pot this year :-) I do share a list of items of varying prices and places if they ask. If not, they go rogue and that is okay too.

We do this as well. Ever since the first grandchild was born, we buy for the kids and our parents only but not our siblings or their spouses. We also have a $25 per kid limit (there are 11 of them now) so you need to get creative. :-) I personally have 1 kid and about 5 years ago my brothers took it upon themselves to increase the amount they spent on my son (who is also 8 years older than his closest cousin) saying I was spending more than everyone else each year (not that I minded) But I insisted that we buy for my parents. Most years we all pitch in together and buy 1 large item for mom and 1 large item for dad from the 3 of us and our spouses. Some years we buy them a much larger joint gift (like a dishwasher for their kitchen remodel).

I hear ya! I am usually done shopping before Thanksgiving but still loved the buzz and fun of Black Friday. I loved knowing I got a deal but could also walk away because I didn't have to absolutely have it. For a long time, I went with my mom and then by myself while my husband and son slept. The past few years, my husband has gone with me. It just doesn't have the same thrill that it did before. Sleep is more exciting. But every year I say I am not going and every year I end up at the mall :-) It's tradition...like putting up the tree.

1. This is my "I got all my deals online yesterday while cooking my turkey" victory dance. 2. I's 8am. I have already been to 12 stores. I have 5 more to go. Momma needs an espresso and a Yeti in My Spaghetti and no one will get hurt. 3. That moment when you realize the your mom was Santa all along and this is what your future now looks like.

I had something similar happen last year. My son made a cinnamon applesauce ornament in kindergarten (he's in 9th grade now) that we put on the tree every year. Last year our dog, that we have had for 8 years!, decided that it still smelled good enough to eat and pulled it off the tree and took a munch. So now all I have are fragments in a bag. I opened the decorations this year and when I saw that flashed right back to when it happened last year. Oh well...now it's a family Christmas tale...the year the dog ate the ornament. I still have my kindergarten classes make these type of ornaments for their parents but now I tell them to let mom and dad put it up high on the tree if they have a pet. :)

Boxes get saved (if they survive the unwrapping), gift bags definitely but wrapping paper is ripped to shreds and thrown hither and yon to create that most wonderful carpet of used gift wrap that appears at the end of every Christmas Morning.

The last cookie is finished and the good news is I am so tired of looking at/making cookies that I won't be eating any for days! Here's the list of what I made this year: Chocolate chip, chocolate chip with nuts, oatmeal (with raisins, without raisins and with the chocolate covered raisins suggested earlier in this thread---YUMMY A BIG HIT!), ultimate chocolate with pecans, chocolate covered cherry cookies, peanut butter, sugar and snickerdoodle. I was going to make nuts cups but I am tired and my knee is killing me. (You should have seen the looks when I told the doctor I twisted it while wrapping presents. I have the brace for a week and then if it isn't better, they will do an MRI to see if I tore the cartlidge.) I packaged up the cookies for grandma and my mom and hubby dropped them off. My uncle's cookies are being mailed tomorrow. Wrapping the last 3 presents tonight and then I AM FINISHED! WOOOHOO!

I agree .... the kids are adorable and your home lovely. If you hadn't told me, I would have thought it was a professional picture.

Thanks for sharing. I loved "visiting" and I will be sure to come back and check for more pictures.

I was so excited to start decorating today until I moved the sofa! Yuck! We have a brown berberish type carpet so until I moved the sofa I didn't realize how cruddy that "one spot" where my husband sits has gotten. (I teach and I am in gradutate school so I don't even remember to take the clean laundry out of the washer and put it into the dryer sometimes.) I thought I would spot clean until I went into my son's room and looked around. Evidently the dog has been "visiting" under his desk and he neglected to tell anyone. (He's been "cleaing" it with papertowels and air freshener:mad: instead of the Little Green Machine!) So instead of just regular cleaning and decorating, I trucked off to the grocery store, rented a steam cleaner and ended up cleaning ALL the carpets in the house. I am exhausted and I know the decorations will shine all the more with the clean clean clean carpets but it's winter and they are going to take forever to dry. So, did anyone else have to do some unexpected cleaning/repair or am I the only one who lives in a house Santa would be afraid to visit?

I just got an email confirmation of my cancelled Amazon (Target bundle) Wii unit only being shipped next week. Check your email if you had the bundle cancelled. Your unit may be on the way!

So are we!!!! I am so excited. This will be my first time seeing them. My husband got me the tickets for Christmas (as a surprise) but the told me because I was adamant about buying 3 tickets for the family to go see it. My tickets were only going to be $45 each. His were much more...lol...so he and I will be going sans child.

I wrap everything in shiny paper with bows and ribbons and such. (I think that is because I always wanted shiny paper as a kid but the matte stuff is cheaper and "just got ripped off and thrown away anyway" according to my mom.) Now that my son no longer "believes" we can put out family gifts under the family tree. (Unless our annual Christmas open house is before Christmas Day. Then they stay in the closet out of respect for our little family members and Santa Clause) My husband and I each save a day to take off in Dec. We buy stocking stuffers and have lunch together and then come home and I wrap my son's presents. Extended family presents go under the school tree. Presents for coworkers go under the foyer tree. I try to wrap a few presents every night while watching tv.

Well...I just asked my son and I just found out that my son knew at the age of 7 (I thought 10) but he didn't tell me because he didn't want to upset me because he knew, and I quote, "you are into that whole thing and it would have made you cry that your little boy was growing up". I do remember crying at 10 when I knew for sure...I'm such a sap! I asked him how he found out and he said, again I quote, "Hello...public school. And all my friends have older brothers and sisters" Oh well...I still believe in Santa! I saw him at the mall last week and he looked mighty alive and well!

My husband and I exchange 1 gift together Christmas eve night after my son has gone to sleep. We've been doing this since we married (my son was 4 at the time). Now that he is older (13), my son can pick 1 gift also to unwrap. Last year he choose socks and boy was he upset....lol He hasn't figured out yet that I never put out the "good gifts" until after he is in bed. We also have chinese food on Christmas Eve. Not sure why or how that started but I can gaurantee we won't be eating the same thing the next day for dinner at grandmom's

what is dirty santa

That is sooo funny. I did the same thing...still do! My husband has learned to hide all my stuff at my mom's house but I still find out! I hate surprises but love giving them!

1. The ablility to worship God without persecution 2. My son and husband and the family we have made. Having been in a bad marriage before, building a new one with my son makes it that much more precious. My husband and son are truly a "father/son" relationship 3. That, at age 37, I still have a grandparent and both parents living and my son has been able to experience the extended family relationships I did growing up. 4. My job - I love being a teacher and the children I work with. 5. Chocolate - Although if I were a bit less thankful for this my waistline might be thinner!

I admit it. I am a Christmas freak. Fortunately my husband and son are very patient pulling all the boxes out of the garage each year. I should add that I do have a policy that every room with a tree also has to have a nativity. I even have a small acrylic nativity in the bathroom. I want to be sure that everyone who comes in my home understands that I know what the true meaning of Christmas is. My home is not overly large but this is the one holiday I go all out.

Well...here goes... Kitchen tree (small 2 1/2-3ft tree) has gingerbread/gingham/farmy ornaments. Family Room (full size rotating tree) - I teach so this tree is full of all the ornaments kids have given me over the years. I love remembering them as I put the ornaments on. This room has a snowman/snowball theme. Foyer - (corner tree) Victorian tree with pinks and ivory. This is a Santa themed room with all my collectible Santas. Son's room (small 2 1/2-3ft tree)- mylar-ish ornaments Living Room - Our "main tree" and only real live one! This tree is a mix of ornaments my son has made over the years and ornaments from places we've travelled (like Disney:) ) over the past years. It also has family ornaments passed down from grandparents. This year we are adding an ornament from Annapolis (my son went to lax camp there this year). Nothing matches and I love it! - This room has tradiditonal red and white snowflakes and Santas in it. Office tree (small 2 1/2-3ft tree)- This is decorated in small satin balls primarily in red and yellow since the office is Disney themed. This is also where all the Nutcrackers go. Our bedroom (small 2 1/2-3ft tree)- silver tree with blue ornaments - just because I think a silver tree is fun Bathroom - Fish- themed so hard to decorate but I usually put santa hats on the fish on the wall...lol And a little tree on the back of the toilet. My last tree is outside and is a lit up mesh tree I got from JCPenney last year. We have light up gift boxes and bags around it. Guess it is time to start decorating...lol

Me Too! These are usually add on things I get on BF. It's great to walk into a store and be able to walk right out if the line is too long or not be upset that I didn't get something I wanted.

It's great! My husband and son put out the lights this weekend since it was so nice out. I am actually home sick today so I think I might tackle decorating the office! I'll try to post some pics too. But I will warn you , I have 9 Christmas trees including the one outside...lol

Wow. This one really made me think! I pulled out the receipts really dreading what I would find but it wasn't so bad. We spent @450 on my son (including a Wii) and he has about 20 gifts. We spent @300 on my stepdaughter (she lives far away and only asked for an IPOD so we got her that and some jewelry and pj's--gotta remember to get them shipped out next week:cheesy: ) We also spent about $500 on family gifts (we only buy for my nieces and nephews since they are small(under 5) and not my brothers and their wives, my parents, my grandmother, his mom and family gifts for his 3 brothers who all live far away and have older children). Our family has a $50 limit for each family member so that no one goes crazy (and to take the pressure off my brother who does not earn as much as the others but would try to keep up with the overspending if we allowed it to happen). My 2 brothers and I usually go together to get a nice gift each parent wants. This year dad is getting a gas weed eater with attachments and mom is getting a M&M collectible from Danbury Mint and earrings. I don't think that's too bad @1300 total. I begin buying in August and go from there. I am done by Thanksgiving and Black Friday is just a bonus day. If I get a deal on an add on gift great...if not...that's okay too. I do buy the gifts for my husband's coworkers at the afterChristmas sales at Pier one and yankee candle and such. Every year they get gifts that look like I spent @ $10 per person but really only spend about $2---shhh--don't tell. The $50 limit really helps and prevents someone from scooping up on the parent's big gift for their kids. The parents buy the big thing (in my case the Wii) and my brothers are each buying a game he wants for it and my parents and grandmother are getting him extra controllers and accessories. This lets me buy him clothes he will really wear instead of "Grandma clothes---OH NO!":) So after all this rambling, the short answer is @450 each on kids and @1300 total (but regular cost of everything was almost $2000--I wonder if I could use that argument for my husband to buy me something super special...haha)

I just checked my credit card this morning and the $715 hold has dropped off but no charge has been put on. I checked the invoice on the system and they charged me almost 300 with regular shipping and tax (shipping was @$35). So I feel better that the big charge dropped off. I guess I will just keep watching my statement to make sure they bill me the correct amount.

I also had cancelled mine and it still shipped. We got the console and one game today. All the rest say cancelled. The post on my cc is for the full amount as a pending charge. I'm not worried if they in fact adjust the price. But I don't want to pay $700 for a system with 1 game...YIKES