StephanieD

I love this time of year b/c I'm finally not the only one thinking about Christmas!

I HAVE to watch the parade every year. I'm always ready for Christmas, but it really kicks the season into high gear for me. I love it! :)

I'm usually pretty good about mailing cards, but this past Christmas I didn't. I actually bought and addressed the cards, but just never put stamps on them. I probably would've just used those cards for this year, but I always write the year on the card when I sign them. So, I'm making them now...I don't plan on letting these sit with no stamps. I've worked too hard!

I love Elf, Christmas Vacation, Miracle on 34th St (old and new), It's a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, The Santa Clause 1 & 2, and Love Actually. I'm sure I'm forgetting some. For music, I like both editions of Now That's What I Call Christmas. They have a good mix of contemporary and classic Christmas songs. I like Harry Connick Jr. as well, although I'm not sure which of his Christmas CDs I own. I like Kenny G as well b/c it's nice background music. I have the Time Life Treasury of Christmas too. I also listen to Christmas music and watch the movies all year. I love Christmas! :)

I don't buy a particular brand or anything. I just buy whatever catches my eye. I do have a dislike though. I don't usually like paper with characters on it like Elmo, SpongeBob, etc. The only character I'll allow on my wrapping paper is Santa. I may loosen that rule a bit when I have children. LOL

I have to work on Black Friday as well, but that won't stop me from going. I don't have to be into work until noon. So, that gives me enough time to hit the stores I'll need. It also helps that all stores I'll probably end up going to are less than 10 minutes from work.

Actually, the option is $200+ which goes beyond the $200. :) I haven't saved any money. I'm hoping to use my whole paycheck for that week. If I plan properly, I can afford to do that and use my husband's check for bills, groceries, etc.

I'm curious, how many Christmas cards do you send out a year? Do you make your own cards? How soon do you get them in the mail? How many cards do you receive each year? I'm sending about 30-40 cards this year. I usually buy, but I thought I'd try homemade this year. It's a slow tedious process for me...I should have started earlier. LOL I'm hoping to get them mailed the weekend after Thanksgiving or the first week of December at the latest. I don't receive half as many cards as I send. I don't mind though b/c I just like to send cards. I usually get about 10 a year.

They think I'm nuts until they want me to pick something up for them. LOL

I've never bought enough to have to make more than one trip. So, one car load for me.

I feel the same way! My husband and I are actually going shopping today to see what Christmas stuff we can find! Can't wait!

We don't eat breakfast until we've gone to our first couple of stores. It's usually something like an Egg McMuffin and OJ.

I like to wrap as soon as possible. I usually spend all Black Friday evening decorating and wrapping.

My husband and I get gainsharing at our jobs. The amount we get could be a lot or nothing at all if the company does badly. Either way, we don't get it until after Black Friday. We get a large percentage of it in December and the rest in January. Since I don't do credit cards, I'll be spending money that I've saved for Black Friday.

I've seen that one before too and I think that's pretty sad. It's not that important....my goodness...

Check out this Best Buy video of Black Friday 2004:

I like to be done by the first week of December, but it doesn't always work out.

I was one of those people on my first Black Friday. LOL I was about 19 years old when my cousin asked me to buy him a TV on Black Friday b/c he had to work. I mentioned to my mother that I would go to Wal-Mart about 10AM and she said, "I think you should be there when they open". I thought she was just being paranoid, but I went early anyway. I got there 15 minutes early and I just KNEW I would be one of the first. Boy was I wrong. LOL I got the TV though! I don't know how I made it to 19 years old and didn't know about the Black Friday craziness. I would hear my aunts talking about the sales, but I never knew they were leaving the house at the crack of dawn to take advantage of the sales.

Oh yeah! This reminded me that my husband and I also go see a movie every Thanksgiving. We actually saw two movies last Thanksgiving since we didn't have the big dinner and all.

Last year, my husband and I had just moved from Louisiana to Ohio and we didn't cook Thanksgiving dinner. We ended up eating at a Denny's. lol This year should be different though. We've located some of his family and it's a good chance that we will be having dinner at his cousin's house this year. So, I'll probably just be bringing a dish along. In 2004 (Louisiana) though, I actually hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. For the turkey, I used a recipe in my Christmas with Southern Living book. It came out really good. As for the foods I like on Thanksgiving, I tend to like the traditional foods such as, turkey, ham, dressing, cranberry sauce, homemade gravy, pecan pie, sweet potato pie, etc. I'll try something new, but I still need my old standbys.

I usually don't get home until around 3PM. My husband and I are usually done shopping way before then, but we actually like being out among the hustle and bustle. We tend to make a day of it. We hit the stores that have what we need as early as possible and then we eat breakfast. For the rest of the day, we spend time window shopping at the mall and other stores that we didn't go to earlier. We'll then go get something to eat before heading home. We basically just stay out until we're tired. LOL

Typically, I finish decorating for Christmas after Black Friday shopping (if I'm not already finished). I'm usually on an adrenaline rush for the whole day. This year, I will be working on Black Friday, but I don't have to be in until noon. So, I plan to do as much as possible before 11 AM and then I'll be heading to work.

I'd love to BE one of those people. If only I weren't broke right now. lol This doesn't surprise me though b/c there are people who look forward to Christmas all year and start preparing for it in the summer. There are even message boards dedicated to it. The stores wouldn't put out the products so early if people weren't buying them. So, somebody likes it. One of those somebodies is me!

This is house is going to be featured on Inside Edition tonight. I just saw a commercial for it and they will be at that house.

We've got quite a bit of snow where I am as well. I am in Ohio near Lake Erie east of Cleveland. It's suspposed to continue through tomorrow and tomorrow's high is 27 degrees.