berry1014

You can that of us but that does not mean we are going to listen.

I sent my feed back to them. I pretty much told them I felt like they were acting like a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum over spilled milk!

You can sign up to be on their mail list and they will mail it to you. I am not sure if it is too late to sign up for this years book. It will also be in your Sunday newspaper.

We also spend X amount per child. We have a 6 y.o DD and a 14 month old DS. The budget for our daughter is slightly higher then DS. Thankfully she is not into anything to expensive so each will get a fair amount of gifts, one from each other, a couple from mom and dad and the rest are from Santa.

You can make the mashed potatoes ahead of time and put them in a crock pot to keep them hot. You may need to add a little bit of milk to them right beofre you are ready to serve them. I did that last year and it was very easy to do. Same thing with the gravy. Make ahead of time and put into a crock pot. I have 4 crock pots and used 3 of them last christmas. With having a new baby, I wanted to spend as much time with the kids and less time in the kitchen.

It will not affect mine. The only thing that will affect my BF shopping are the actual deals that the store have that day.

I go every year with my best friend and sister in law. It's tradition. A few years ago we decided not to go, the rest of the day just did not seem the same. So now we are back to going every year.

how about matching patriotic ornaments dated for her and her son.

The Big Toy Book Sales starts Sunday Oct 28th. It is always the last Sunday in October. I was in TRUS the other day and they confirmed the start date of Oct 28th.

What is there not to love? There are so many things about Christmas that I love. Love to decorate the inside and outside of the house then to sit there with the house lights off and enjoy the hard work we did. Listening to Christmas music. Watching christmas shows/movies. Baking cookies and haveing my kids help me decorate the cookies. The pure magic and excitement that you see in the kids faces and fell in the air.

Check out this site. They have several ideas for cheap and inexpensive gifts. http://organizedchristmas.com/gifts-and-crafts/stocking-stuffers I have done the snowman soup and whisk you a merry christmas in the past and they were a big hit.

all of my trees are pre-lite

I noticed them at our walmart over the weekend. Included in them was World Trade center and Laura Croft Tomb Raider. I am wondering if they will knock these prices down to $1.88 like they did lastyear.

Usually we finish up shopping around lunch time so we will stop for lunch at a restraunt. We pick a different one each year then we head home. Some times we take a nap, no wait, hubby will take a nap and sometimes I will too. Then we work on decorating. Depending on the weather that day and the next day will determine which day we work on the inside decorations and the outside decorations. Dinner is left overs and then it's christmas movies the rest of the night.

I have not seen that flavor yet. I will have to try it if we get it around here.

LOL sorry but I had to laugh at this. My daughter LOVES Hanna Montana and my hubby LOVES Transformers. Talk about a big kid. Can you guess what is on my shopping list? LOL!

We have a year round seasonal store around here that also sells christmas stuff year round. We bought Santa's magic key there. It also comes with a little poem about placing the key on the outside door so Santa can get in to leave the gifts.

French Toast Casserole Serves/Yields: 8-10 Prep. Time: overnight Cook Time: 35 minutes Ingredients 1 bag of bread cubed 8 ounces cream cheese 1/2 c.sugar, divided 1/2 tsp. vanilla or almond extract 4 eggs 2 c. Milk 1 tsp. cinnamon 2 TBSP. butter, melted Directions Place half of bread cubes into greased 9x13 baking dish. Microwave the cream cheese until melted, stirring midway. Stir 1/4 c. of the sugar and the extract into the melted cream cheese. Pour this mixture over the bread cubes (will not completely cover the bread) Top with remaining bread cubes. In a bowl, beat the remaining sugar, eggs, milk, cinnamon and melted butter together. Pour over bread cubes. Freeze or let sit in refrigerator overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 - 40 minutes. Serve with syrup or fruit toppings (can or fresh)

Thanksgiving: Breakfest : Cinnamon rolls snacks: Pepperoni Bread Dips and crackers Dinner: Turkey Stuffing Gravy Mashed Potatoes Yams Corn Green beans Cranberry sauce rolls Dessert - home made pies - pumpkin, sweet potatoe, apple crumb Christmas Eve (me, dh and our kids and my mom) Assortment of Seafood (what ever we feel like having) Christmas Day Breakfest: French Toast casserole Stuffed french or italian bread Orange cranberry muffins Snacks: assorment of home made cookies, breads and muffins Dinner: Same as Thanksgiving but also include stuffed shells New Years Eve - nothing special New Years Day - Pot Pies

An angel goes on top of the main tree in the living room. Stars go on top of the other 4 trees.

This year some things will be slightly different since my MIL has moved away and my mom has moved in with us due to health problems but.... On Christmas eve morning we will get up early and go out to breakfest. Any of our friends and family are welcomed to join us for breakfest. After we will go visiting friends and family that we will not see in the next day or two. Any gifts the kids receive then will be opened so the giver can see the kids faces and get a thank you from the kids. I also give out a lot of baked goodies so we deliver them as well. By mid afternoon we will head to the local market and get an assortment of seafood for dinner. We will get home around 4ish. THe kids will get to open their gift from each other which will be a toy. While the kids are playing with their new gifts, DH and I will finish any last minute prep work for christmas day breakfest and dinner. We are hosting. We will sit down and enjoy a nice dinner. After 6 pm Santa makes his rounds through our neighborhood on top of a local fire truck. He will hand out candy canes to all the kids waiting outside for him. Afterwards, the kids get their baths and we settle down with some home made cookies and watch some christmas shows. The kids will set out milk and cookies and the magic key for Santa and then it's off to bed and a story of Twas the night before Christmas. Last year we did have a group of high school kids going door to door caroling. I am hoping they will do it again this year. I will have a box candy canes ready incase they do. DH and I will relax and watch some more christmas shows and then put out the presents right before we go to bed.

"Are you smarter then a 5th grader" is now a board game. That might be fun.

I think that is wonderful idea. Themed baskets are great and you can do one for just about any theme. You could do a game night or movie night basket or a family night basket with a game and a movie. There are so many different things you can add to it as well like packages of popcorn or a large tin of popcorn candy homemade cookies or a bag of cookie mix so they can make the cookies themselves juice boxes and or sodas hot choc mix, tea bags, coffee samples and a new holiday mug for each member You could also include a gift certificate to a local pizza shop. Depending on the ages of the kids you can add coloring books and crayons too. Good Luck

I also shop all year. By Sept I usually have several gifts, stocking stuffers, etc. We also do a christmas club and get that check every October. Each week we put money into the christmas club. The amunt we spend varies year to year, depends on the sales and deals.

Oh I totally agree on this. I hate this song!