Holiday Grand Plan ~ Christmas Countdown!

Well, who'd'a thunk it would come so fast?

Today is the start of The Christmas Countdown!

Its also Week 9 in the HOliday Grand Plan.

Whichever program you're working, time's-a-flyin' so check-in and let's see if we can keep one another motivated and reasonably on-task for a great holiday season!

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

I should print out those pages.

Today?!!! I'd better get my act together! First, do supper prep, then, get back on computer and think Christmas.

Back soon . . .

Zillah

well that was my first reaction, but in actual fact I'm probably not as unready as I felt when I saw Lenora's reminder thread. I have been trying to get others in the mood since it's nearly November and I DO NOT want to be shopping in December for anything I could've bought in November!

maybe a share-out of Christmas links would be a nice place to start if anyone feels like setting up a separate thread for that. I'm in the middle of tidying for dinner guests (our first non-family). Honey and I have been finding some nice places recently - personally I like places with printables (keep the kids quiet amongst other things!), crafts, recipes and traditions, as well as those clever little tips. I actually spent hours looking at Marth Stewart Living last night (online of course) - had to force myself to bed.

Anything else we dare share online?? Recipes, tips, weblinks, stocking filler ideas, crafts... I like crafts which tell me to use soemthing I already have then jazz it up with a piece of ribbon or by filling it with something I wouldn't have thought of. That's my level of crafting I'm afraid. Though I have a plain green wreath for the nail on my front door and a few gold pine cones to hot glue to it! SO creative.

gotta get back to today's dinner party list though. Dinner party HAH! With kids?? I hardly think so. And the guests are stopping off partway through an 8hr drive home. DH is also up in Scotland with them and arriving about the same time! Lovely.

Kerri.

Someone posted this a couple of years ago but in case any of you missed it or lost your bookmarks: http://www.thetoymaker.com.

Kerri, don't worry, you have it easy. The HGP also includes Thanksgiving! (Although you could probably save those bits and modify them for CNY.) If the guests are stopping off like that they'll just be happy to get out of the car, kids or no kids.

Speaking of Kerri and her kids-- shall we tell them our little secret now? And how do you feel about my posting photos?

I feel much more ready to get ready for the holidays now than when you first posted about the HGP, Lenora!

fun excitement! Did you and Kerri met without telling us and you have pictures to prove it!

Jana

Come now, we'll have no secrets here . . .

OK, my report is. I've made myself a holiday planning calender; I've made my to do list for the week; I've added Christmas Cards and Stamps to my shopping list; I've dug out my Christmas Book.

Phew. Time for bed, I think

Zillah

You have a Christmas book, Zillah? That sounds horribly organised.....

I have a Christmas Pile of Scrappy Semi-Legible Lists

This week is a bad one for me as there is so much going on. The house is a complete mess and likely to remain so until at least Saturday as there's hardly a spare minute between now and the weekend. SO how am I finding time to spend on TNH, you ask? Easy, I'm using my sleep time
Speaking of which I'd better go and get some, busy day tomorrow.

I'll check out the CGP later in the week, but I think I am doing quite well with the Christmas planning, just not so good with the cleaning

Yeah, sorry about that Honey! I bought myself an A4 spiral bound notebook last Christmas to keep control of things when we had 10 people for Christmas last year. Amazingly I both kept it, and made sure it didn't go into storage, AND I've now found it. Things are sure to go down-hill from now on

Today I have checked to see if we have any Christmas cards left from last year. The verdict? None to speak of. I'll get some later in the week.

Zillah

The topic for today is Christmas Values, which is an interesting one for me because Quakers don't traditionally celebrate Christmas. However, I was an Anglican for many years and am a total devotee of traditional church music, so traditional Christmas services are very important to me. So, some important things to think about today. Also I want to find ways to plan and work ahead so that the things that are important to me over Christmas get enough time and head-space.

Zillah

PS Still haven't bought those Christmas cards !

I actually read Becky's comment and wondered what secret I'd missed out on!! DUH!

Jana is probably the kind of person who accurately guesses what's in each and every Christmas present before she opens it - DH does that and it's infuriating. So yes, you guessed right Jana. I have no objection to you posting the photos Becky, providing you can find anything that wasn't awful. We didn't do too well on photos. It was SOOOO long ago now, but I guess since the summer's gone your father must've retired now Becky - how's he adjusting?? Is he driving your mother nuts yet??

OT?? ME?? Well, ok, but only because I have come to a grinding halt on Christmas. No, that's not strictly true. We went to IKEA last week and I picked up some decorations (bearing in mind most of mine were left in S'pore for my SIL who's now debunked to Beijing!). I've been to a few charity shops and tried to find out just what percentage of their Christmas card sales go to the charity, and very few even know. My mother drew my attention to the fact that many that are being sold in ordinary shops donate only 10%. What a rip-off, using the charity name to get money out of people. So for anyone planning to buy their Christmas cards that way, beware, and check it out first.

that's it because I've been knocked sideways by a nasty head cold that has hit the whole family. The kids were off school last week anyway for half term, but they were also off today and really all I wanted to do was sleep. I've also decided I don't really appreciate trick or treating much. Bloody stupid idea - either it's commercial, or if it's genuine then it's pagan. Why would I want my kids to be involved in such a thing?? And why do other prents drag their kids round. Sorry, I know it's big in the US, and it's apparently big here. I chickened out and bought a load of lollipops to save my car getting scratched, not knowing the people in this area well enough.

enough OT stuff for me today. That's the trouble when I only pop in once in a while - I try to give you an entire potted biography of whatever has happened in the preceeding week or so! DH and the kids have hogged the computer, so I gave in.

and Becky, it was so good to spend time with you. I hope you'll be coming this way some time too. The chances of me getting to you any time soon are seriously slim, and I don't even have a burning desire to take the kids to Disneyland (so far I've managed to keep them from having a burning desire to go too - my kids are VERY naive in many ways, thank goodness).

oh yes, and still no television for us. Probably before Christmas since Christmas programming is the ONLY time there's more than one or two things on a month!

Kerri.

I wrote about this when I lived in England but that was a while ago! I noticed that English kids seem to trick or treat at every house on the block. The American custom (at least, every place in America I've lived) is that you only knock on the door if the house has some sort of Halloween decoration out front, which prevents excessive coercion. Halloween was my grandmother's favorite holiday so I always miss her at this time of year, though.

Anyway, yes, Kerri and I met up in Singapore last January. My father was the Consul General at the US Embassy in Beijing, so I was visiting my parents for Christmas/ New Year's, and we went down to Singapore as well (I was born there when my parents were posted in Indonesia; my mom went to Singapore to have me). Because it's a fairly high-profile, low-privacy job, I was not saying what my father did for a living because I wanted to protect his privacy, but now he is retired so I can reveal all! Oh wait, I just did. I'll dig up the photo CD if I can still find it and put it on my TNH blog tomorrow!

Countdown? I've already done some of the things listed for this week, actually. So I might try to get a jump on next week since we are going to be away for part of next week and part of the following week.

Hey, a secret homemakers meeting, I like it!! Let's see the photos

Becky, I can't believe you're ahead of time. Would you like to pop over and help me with the stuff from last week I didn't finish?

However, I have done something. I've bought Christmas cards, and stamps. (Most of the charity cards I bought seem to be about 15% of the price to charity, I guess that's about all they can do after costs, or they'd be prohibitively expensive) I've made a gift list and written some things on it. I've written a budget plan and hope to go through it with DH tonight.

How's everyone else doing. Lenora, are you OK? Not drowning in work? Honey, is your stoop clean yet!! Sparrow, how's that guest room coming on? (I know, I'm mixing my decluttering and my Christmas, but I'm tired and I've had a glass of wine!)

Right, I must go and be useful about the house

Zillah

My stoop is positively sparkling! In fact, I have spent so much time on the stoop that I haven't had time to do anything else at all for weeks!

Yep, burried in school stuff and sick as a dog to boot! I spent all day yesterday in bed, managed to get to my mom's today for DNiece's birthday dinner...then back to the couch. I have no voice, no energy, and a chest full of goo.

Christmas Countdown? Holiday Grand Plan??

Bah Humbug!

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

Hmmm haven't done the garage yet...oh wait I don't HAVE a garage LOL! Anyways, most all gifts are bought, except kids $$$ stuff....that always comes last! Mostly just gift cards and mall stuff to get. I did already order and get my xmas cards, and the kids ornaments for this year. I have gotten them one every year since they have been born. Kinda fun, date them as well. Haven't thought about cooking yet, hubby can do some of that, and we usually make the same things every year. So far so good, hang in there girls!!
Luv,
M

I need to spend some time cleaning my stoop!

No, really, I do. I've got these flowerbeds in front that always seem to need weeding. Right now one is done and one needs to be reclaimed after two years of neglect. I've actually got some tulips and crocus bulbs I need to plant, so I have to do it! Plus there's still a Halloween pumpkin out there, and I need to take down and pitch the dead flowers in my hanging baskets, and the walk needs some attention, too. It's kind of a cobblestone thing and the weeds grow right over it between the stones. It looks nice, but I often wish it was just a plain old sidewalk so I wouldn't have to weed my front walk!

Anyway, the guest room is pretty much done except for replacing the overhead light and finding some curtains and roller shades to put in there. It looks nice! I wanted to replace the ceiling fan in there and was going to wait, but then my husband burnt out the controller for it. Guess it's time to do it now! And I didn't even break it!

I feel like all I've done with this Christmas Countdown is fill out worksheets so far. Some of them will probably come in handy, but I don't know how much real progress I'm making. Course, I'm a little behind on it, too. I'm starting much earlier than last year, but I'm still wondering how I'm going to get everything done!

And I made my card and gift lists. I didn't do the 1/5 of cards last week, so oh well.... Guess I'll do 2/5 this week! Also I've done some shopping for gifts already.

Well, over I'm just enjoying the fact that Christmas Countdown seems to be pretty Thanksgiving dominated. Kerri and Honey, my fellow non-Thanksgivingers, whatever will we do with all that spare time?

Last week I bought some Christmas pressies on Amazon, and MADE DH think about what his family might like. Some success Marlene, I'm impressed by your gift organisation. I'm trying to do the annual ornament thing for DD as well (well, I managed to remember for the one Christmas she's had so far!).

Sparrow, I was wondering if all the worksheets were just a work-avoidance tool, but I think I have done more stuff earlier than in previous years, so it must work, somehow

Lenora, sorry you're feeling bad, hope things cheered up for you this week.

Becky, did you get your 2/5 cards done? I have my own system where from December 1st I'm allowed a glass of wine on a week night if I do Christmas cards while I drink it!

This week I'm hoping to buy more presents, make cranberry mincemeat, plan edible gifts and buy packaging for them. That should me more than enough, I think.

Zillah

Having a plan is certainly better than not having one, that's for sure! I'm finding that I'm having to adjust a little bit for the things I actually do. I don't usually send many Christmas cards, but I do bake like crazy and send most of my extended family and close friends tins of Christmas cookies. I should really be farther along on those than I am, and it's bugging me, but some other more mundane things have been taking a lot of my time lately. I had to reclaim another flowerbed from the weeds that had overrun it so I could plant some fall bulbs I ordered! And we're having to do some rapid decluttering to make room for some furniture we'll be receiving from my grandmother's estate after Thanksgiving. I'm really not sure how I'm going to have the house anywhere near ready for my in-laws to come visiting around Dec. 16 for Christmas (let alone have the cookies done). Guess I'll just have to wing it.

I am behind on cards and gifts, but ahead on some other things like menu planning (I printed out all the checklists ahead of time). So I guess I'm still doing pretty well!

I just kind of forgot about Christmas planning. Whoops!

This week I'm going to make another attempt on that mincemeat, I'll also make a Christmas pudding. Don't need to do a cake as DMIL and I are doing and exchange - I'm making her a pudding and she's making me a cake! It plays to our strengths and reduces labour

I don't do any decorating until the start of Advent, and then only the crib comes out. Then we have a gradual build up of decorations until Christmas eve when we put up the Christmas tree. So that gives me a chance to catch up on things I haven't done yet while everyone else is decorating!

Enjoy your Thanksgivings

Zillah

I started my Christmas lists and planning months ago and now I'm getting Christmas fatigue and it's only November. Too much too soon and now I'm all burned out before the decorations even go up! Dare I say I wish it was January already? Yeah I know, bah humbug......

Guess I need to put on some Christmas music and try and get in the mood

Don't know how well I am following the Grand Plan but I have gotten a lot done. 4 more gifts to buy, then decorate. We got to mulch all our leaves this weekend. We have a fenced front yard, so they pretty much just stay there until we get to them. The tree goes up next weekend, then we have DS14 birthday on the 2nd. Been cleaning up some as I go along during this little break from school. (Which by the way I ended up with a 4.0, talk about a great Xmas gift!).
Hang in there gals, we will make it!
Luv,
M

Nope, not for Chirstmas....for graduation!

I have 4 (yep! four) days of student teaching left, and
19 days until graduation! Yippee!

MANY congrats, Marlene, on the 4.0 GPA! That's no easy task, I know!

Anyway! I am in "decorate" week myself, and every little piece of holiday cheer is being put up on a sparkly clean surface...the results????????? CHAOS, of course!

My kitchen is squeaky clean, already...including the cupbaords...my Christmas dishes are in the dishwasher right this very minute! I even painted the baseboards and trim a fresh white, washed the windows and walls, and bleached the countertops! DH gave all the ceilings a fresh coat of paint over the last couple of days and as soon as the baseboards get done in the greatroom, I'll be ready to finsih up in there.

I'm headed outside in just a minute to wrap the trees next to the porch with lights, then I need to hang the window swags and find the candles.

I'm going to have one of the DDs clean the banister and railings so I can hang the garlands and bows on it later, too! (I have tests to finsih grading and some student-projects to evaluate...along with wrapping up MY portfolio requirements for the University...EEK!)

I miss you all and I'm looking forward to "visiting" more often when I get the next week finished!

Love to all!

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

I don't think so! Not here!

Still, it's not downright embarrassing. That's something.

We haven't had a tree before, but this year we'll be home at Christmas with no one else around for the first time. I was thinking of getting a "real" one or a live one, but then I read that those are bad for cats. One of our cats loves to chew on plants, so I think we're going to go with artificial. Might go to Big Lots next week. Also need to repair the chanukiah (menorah) and get some Chanukah candles somewhere.

I flatly refuse to decorate before December 1. It's just wrong. I keep out the Thanksgiving stuff until then. But I am almost on track with cards and gifts!

I have almost all my gifts. I just have to go out Christmas shopping with my Mum next week sometime (regular yearly thing), and then I will pop out on my own nearer the time to get sweets for DS' stocking and a few other edible items. I have a few gifts still to make, but I am making good progress with those.

Like you, Becky, I don't even think about decorating until 1st December, and I may not even do it until the week after. At the moment the house is a wreck, so that needs sorting out first. This year I have bought a small tree for DS' room and I'll be decorating it and the rest of his room one day while he's out as a surprise. It's the first time I've done that...over there it seems more common to decorate the whole house but most people I know here just do the living room and hall. Although my Mother has a Santa Claus toilet lid cover - yes really! And the good news is....this year she got a new bathroom and the cover won't fit so I inherited it!!

TADA for the Grand Plan:

Decorating finished
cards bought and waiting to be addressed
3 gifts left to buy plus stocking stuffers
Most ingredients bought for recipes
Canned food given to Salvation Army
Downstairs cleaned

Still to go....
Kids rooms cleaned (this probably WON'T happen since they can't keep them that way)
Baking
Menu plan for when the Princess AKA my sister comes to visit
Finish wrapping stuff that hasn't gotten here yet

I'm sure something else will come creeping up on me....school starts Dec. 5th ACK!
Thanks for the good wishes Lenora!
M

Well we all know "I" don't have a problem with decorating before Dec 1st.

Oh no Jamie Lea, you don't have a problem at all! Hey, we all know you love it - I think it's great.

I usually go by the December 1st rule - though I may pull a few things up early this year, just to get going. And I do some shopping, etc. ahead of time.

I put pictures up if anyone wants to check it out.
Who know's Becky maybe it'll get you in the mood to start before the first! (joking)

http://www.xanga.com/homeschoolingthem

Those are pretty pictures jamielea. That should help get everyone in a decorating mood! I did get my tree decorated yesterday and a few other things put up. My daughter and I have had one cookie decorating session. We usually have a big container filled up in the freezer by now. So we are behind in our usual schedule for that:)

Wow, we're doing well, aren't we!

Well done Marlene on that 4.0 (I have no idea what it means, of course, but I can tell it's good ). And Lenora, you're graduating. CONGRATULATIONS!! If you get a minute, would you PM me your address? I'd love to send you a card.

Becky, when I was living at home and we had two cats we didn't have any probs with them eating the tree (too spikey), but they LOVED to try and climb it. We came down one Christmas morning to find the tree prone on the living room carpet!

The mincemeat is in the oven, the Christmas pudding is ready to steam and if I'm not as organised as the rest of you guys, I'm so ahead of my usual last minute panic!

Onwards . . .

Zillah

Zillah, a "4.0" means Marlene received "A's" in all her classes...usually 95% or better. I know at the U of A, they assign "points" per grade, multiply by the credit hours of the class, then divide by the total number of hours to get your "GPA." Keeping a "4.0" is difficult because even an "A-" will drop your average...never to recover! Go Marlene, Go!

I'm off school today, but am speniding the day trying to wrap up my portfolio to turn in next Monday. DH is home, too, and promised me he'd finish the woodwork in the living/dining room so I can put the main floor back in order!

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

DH has been waiting for me to return from a pow-wow with an aunt so I'd better rush this.

DS' birthday is December 1st and I've usually had to force myself to wait till after my own birthday. This year I may take down my cards and the Autumn decor so his cards will show but that's about it. It starts later here and goes on longer after than we've had in Singapore, plus of course we're aiming for a real tree this year instead of artificial. Not sure about next year - I'll let you know how it goes with all those needles!

Cards - WAY behind. Nothing done except the e-cards which will be ready to go out on about the 23rd. I go early in case anyone only has access at work. I've written my SIL's card and I believe DD has finished making one for her, but it really had better go out this week or the China postal service will not make it on time.

Gifts... pretty with it, except I gotta fill those new advent calendars by Thursday and I got nothing but sweets and the occasional coin spread out well (DH's idea!). I need to visualise (ie. spread out on the bed) what we have for the stockings but I may go shopping with Mum on Wednesday to catch up a few more, and I have to do DS' party shopping tomorrow too. Some silly bugger mentioned party bags. There are only two kids coming! I still need to get my short Amazon order in though - thanks for the reminder!

Cleaning?? You're kidding right?? I cleaned on my birthday for my grandmother's arrival (so my parents weren't embarrassed!) and I'll clean to fit the decorations in.

Food - we're only really hosting once and that'll be mostly cold buffet items. I need to get provisions but I have a good (and flexible) idea what we're doing).

I planted my Spring bulbs a coulple of weeks ago before the first frosts, and today we had our first snow, and by afternoon it actually blanketed everything, though not too thick.

So much for that. Had a phone call in between and DH ended up coming up to find me! Oops!

Kerri.

I posted a picture of our tree in the image gallery under Hands at Home>>Decorating.
M

And I said, "great"! So I got something added to the list of things to do. I have to e-mail these friends of ours who have a party every year and make sure we don't conflict because the guest lists will overlap. And if we do conflict, well, we'll just do it next year.

The good news is, I'm caught up! Okay, not all the cards that I stamped and signed are fully addressed because I don't have everyone's address, but still, I'm caught up and on the "right" week.

http://cativa.blogspot.com/

The entry you all need to read is "And so it begins" from Wednesday the 30th of Nov. I immediately thought of this thread!

Jana

Well, maybe you "responsible" gals are already in "maintenance mode" for this holiday season...and if so...

I am not even CLOSE to "maintaining." The house is a wreck, the gifts are not all bought (close, though, but not done), and cookies are not all baked...heck I haven't even decided if I'm cooking on Christmas Eve yet or not (I NEVER cook on Christmas Day).

My cards are mailed, and the invitations for my graduation/birthday party are sent so that is something. DH is almost finished painting (he was out-of-town last week,) so there is a bit to finish up at the front door and a bit to finish up at the back.

My goal today is to finish the laundry- BWAAA HAAAAA HAAAAA!!!! (Whew!, I crack myself up! ), get the laundry room cleaned, and to get the bedrooms cleaned so we can just "maintain" upstairs for the rest of the week. I have a couple of little things I can do in the kitchen while dinner is cooking so they're on the list for today, too.

I have until Thursday evening to get all the cleaning done, because I'm having my nails done on Friday (graduation gift!)

OH! And while all the party/holiday prep is waiting to be done...I have a job interview on Wednesday! It's for a permanent, full-time position in a district very similar to the one where I did my student teaching (and very similar to ours, too). The FCS teacher is retiring at the end of January.

Needless to say....I may not post again until after NEXT Saturday.

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

Lenora, I'm in the same boat (well, except for the job interview--good luck!)
At this point I've even stopped checking the Organized Christmas website, since it didn't seem to fit where I was anymore. For Thanksgiving we went to visit my parents and brought back a truckful of furniture and boxes of things that either belonged to my grandmother or that my parents were replacing with things from my grandmother. My house was OK before, but now it's a disaster! It looks like we just moved, and we sort of did. My Christmas shopping is pretty much done, but that's only happened in the last couple of days. The tree is slowly getting decorated as I walk through and hang a couple more ornaments, and in the meantime the boxes of ornaments are taking up most of my family room. My in-laws are coming up this year, too. I really hope they'll be understanding--I don't see any way to get this all cleaned up by the time they get here. At least they're not staying with us.

And then there are the cookies. Every year I send out tins of cookies to my extended family and some close friends. My parents have a lot of siblings and many of those siblings now have adult children (my cousins), so I end up sending out about 30 tins. It's a very big job! So far I've only made about 3 out of the 12 kinds of cookies I wanted to make. I'm still hoping to be shipping them all out the 16th (next Friday), so in the meantime I'll be baking nonstop. I really tried to get a jump on things this year, but events conspired against me. Now it's just a race to the finish.

nothing here is done.
No decorations.
Barely any shopping.
No wrapping on what little I HAVE bought.
No baking (except for what I had to do for both dd's classes. But there is nothing in the house done).
No cards done (and I don't know if I'll get many done!!).

And even when we are listening to carols on the radio or CD, it just doesn't feel like Christmas here.

Bah, humbug.

You just had a baby so that's okay.

Through conscientious neglect of my schoolwork, I have gotten pretty far. Decorations are up and almost all gifts and cards are sent.

Fire PLUS new baby-- I know it's sad to not be in the mood, but Christmas will be here again next year. This is the first year we've done as much as we're doing.

If Lenora's behind there's hope for me yet! I'm still farther behind than her seeing as how I got my card from her 2 days ago and still haven't finished mine. Btw, beautiful family Lenora!

I've also gotten cards from Vonnie and Andrea, Thanks Vonnie It's so nice to have a face to put with you now and as always your little girl is just adorable.
Andrea, your always on top of things with the Christmas photo, again this year, it's beautiful!

Jenny, you have every right to be laggin, I'd have probably had a melt down in the same situation. Give yourself a break.

Savannah and I are leaving soon to finish up the Christmas shopping. I need to buy for Dh, my best friend, and a couple things for Trey. I'm going to "try" to get some wrapping done tonight as well as finsih my cards. I never do Christmas baking so I'm good there!

Better run, Savannah's waking from her nap.

now I have regained control of myself... I wrote all the TNH cards the other day but I don't have those stamps so I can probably assure you that you might get them next year. I've had them from Andrea and Marlene so far. The only ones likely to get from me are Zillah, Honey and Shayne because those are the stamps I have!!

My mother bought me brown paper yesterday so I can actually get round to the Christmas cake today (fingers crossed). Considering what's involved it amazes me that this tradition has stood the test of time. Can you guess this will be my first time!?!

I figure next week is really the last week to get it all done since the kids break up halfway through the following week. I am so glad I don't have the tension of doing Christmas Day. Somehow my planned buffet for Boxing Day with a measly 6 adults and 2 kids (how else do you think I offered if it wasn't because everyone else was somewhere else!) looks far more relaxing.

So here's my list, roughly: finish cards (approx 20) and get stamps and post them off. I also have just one parcel left to send this year and an understanding recipient. Must wrap some of the contents today, but I lost something I'm sure! Need to get in all the Boxing Day food I can, which includes the ham and some part-baked bread rolls which don't go off. Need to wrap all the presents, but I shall wait that till DH is home (sometime this week, but his father's not been well so he's trying to change his flight yet again). Still need a few stocking fillers, one child's gift (2yo girl), some extras for 3 other kids (4, 6 & and stockings to put all this in!! Oh, and I wanted to do one for DH since he tells me piteously he's never had a stocking. Crap.

and my 6wk cough seems to have turned into something which might possibly be tonsilitis. I currently have the kids settled at the dining table with a variety of internet printed activity and colouring sheets so I get chance to get it together today!

Kerri.

I have nearly all the presents bought, though none are wrapped. I usually don't wrap any until I have them all, then I have a marathon wrapping session.

The Christmas decorations are still in the loft, the Christmas linen likewise. I can't find the Christmas music or videos, so I guess they might be up there too.

I'm starting to feel like not even bothering to put the decorations up! It's not as if anyone else but DS and me will see them, as we have no company planned. We are going out to a restaurant for Christmas dinner with family, and then will spend Christmas Day and Boxing Day with my parents too.

I am looking forward to Christmas but I just don't feel like making an effort, somehow.

I just sent off 22 boxes filled with 32 tins of cookies. My yearly crazy Christmas baking is done, thank goodness! My shopping's done, too, so now I can relax a little. Just a little--I still have to wrap presents, clean my house before my in-laws arrive (and it still looks like we just moved), and plan Christmas dinner with my sister-in-law. Still, it's a huge relief to have the baking done. Now I can really enjoy my husband's company's holiday party tomorrow night.

I'd probably shoot myself back in October! I considered making mince pies, sausage rolls, little sausages wrapped in bacon... not this year folks. Not gonna happen. I've bought 'em all, shame on me!

The only way I'm keeping my head above water this year is by keeping it mostly to the minimum. I've finished wrapping the presents we'll be giving tomorrow, and I've got the living room so covered in decorations (mostly the floor so far I admit) that it really feels quite festive! I still have to marzipan that darn cake, and then the next reason to procrastinate will be the icing of it. I won't say never again, but I am definitely going out after Christmas and gathering up every piece of wrapping paper, ever card and every possible gift I can find on half price so I'm more ahead of myself. Then I'm going to set myself an alarm or something to start on them when the kids go back to school in September!!

Never focus on what's gone wrong this year or in previous years. Learn from your mistakes and improve yourself, making only fresh, new mistakes in the years ahead!

Kerri.

I THINK I've finally caught up! I'm shopping today to finish up..just a few specific items "here and there."

House is decorated, (and recovered after the weekend festivities...we had about 37 adults and 12-or-so kiddos (depending on where yoou "count" the teens who EAT like adults but ACT like toddlers! ) ) menues are planned, cookies are baked (many of them are already served/eaten)....nothing is wrapped, but that's a task for another day

I'll pop in later to let you know how successful my day was. If all goes well, I don't have to go into a store again (except the grocery) until after New Years!

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

TADA
decorations up
gifts bought and wrapped
cards sent
snacks made
groceries bought
charity given

PODA for Christmas
DD to make cookies tomorrow
gift certificate for my boss
gift certificate for father in law
get thru the next 3 days at work, don't kill anyone in the process, while chanting thisisthelastyear thisisthelastyear and wearing reindeer antlers the entire time!

...with "wrap" being the verb of the day! I'm about to unload my hiding places and settle in with another cup 'o'java and wrap up a storm!

I finished my shopping yesterday, except for the "Ohio" shirts I want for SIL and her husband who will be with us from Christmas Eve through New Year's. DH's BIL also has a birthday next week, so that gift is yet-to-be-bought as well. DH and the DDS plan to go out this evening, but he was overly generous with my graduation gift so I've made him promise to "limit" what he spends on me.

After that, I've got the ever-present laundry to do...yadda, yadda, yadda...

Well, friends...are you ready?

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

I have a sick child, presents still to wrap, a ham arriving late this afternoon to cure (brine made, though ) a large mince pie to make for tonight, S+BIL arriving this evening, a shower-room drain to unclog - blaugh, Oh, and I have to back to set out to London tomorrow afternoon. And DD's cold means she hasn't wanted her bed-time feed, so I'm leaking everywhere (sorry if that's TMI, but I love to share ).

I'm going to do it, right?

Zillah

I'm pretty well on track. We opened gifts at my parents' place when I visited there. I want to get DH another Chanukah present at the supermarket, and pick up some coleslaw, and then that will be it! This countdown thing worked pretty well for us.

Oh, and my parents gave us some more ornaments including actual LIGHTS for the tree. So now the tree looks a lot prettier.

My in-laws are actually in town already, but we haven't seen them yet. They arrived at their hotel last night and are seeing my sister-in-law this morning. Hopefully I'll have just enough time to finish cleaning the downstairs before they come over here! The kitchen's finally clean again (no mean feat after baking all those cookies and shopping for Christmas dinner), and so is the downstairs bathroom, which is good. Now I need to move a few boxes from our recent move into the mudroom or garage and vacuum everywhere--cats keep shedding even when I'm too busy to vacuum. And I need to wrap a few more presents, but I can do that tomorrow. I've given up on the upstairs--too much mess in too little time for too little return. They'll see it, but probably just briefly. They'll spend a lot more time downstairs in the "public" areas of our house.

Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! Don't forget to enjoy!