Getting Your Christmas On - UPDATES??

[Mrs. Ciz]

Done:
150 Christmas cards got mailed out this week.

Net lights are on the bushes.

We bailed on the exterior window wreaths and just put the wreath on the front door and called it a day.

All gifts are purchased and 3/4 of them are wrapped, just need to add bows/ribbons. (added bows/ribbons Monday night).

Not Done:
Still need to buy stocking stuffers and gift cards. (did this Sunday morning).

No baking done yet. (did this Monday evening).

Tree still only has lights on it, needs to be decorated.(did this Christmas Eve afternoon).

Still need to menu plan for the week and Christmas Day and grocery shop. (did this Saturday afternoon).

 

[SaintsManiac]

I made it to Christmas break. Watched White Christmas last night. It was so nice to sleep in today.

I'm done shopping and only have a few things to wrap. Every single year I am waiting on my husband's gift to arrive at the last minute. He is so tough to buy for, so I always order some limited edition thing that ALWAYS ships late. sigh. DHL says it will be here 12/24.

We'll have a few family members over on Christmas. I ordered some trays from a local grocery store. Made the liquor store run. Have to pick up a Walmart grocery order today. Will start deep cleaning this afternoon.

These next 2 weeks are my favorite time of year!

 

[Disney_Alli]

Got all my ends woven in on my completed knitting. I need to finish one dishcloth and one shrug and weave in the those ends. Today I’m going to finish the dishcloth (as soon as I put my phone down) weave in those ends and then “wrap” all my gifts (mostly gift bags and baskets). Zoo Lights tonight with my family and then back to work Sunday night for 4 nights. Final tree is mostly decorated and looks good so I’m calling it good enough this year.

 

[AustinTink]

My son came home from college and said, "Can we have Chinese food for Christmas Eve?" Uh... YEAH! Looks like I won't be cooking for the first time on Christmas Eve and it feels glorious!

 

[SaintsManiac]

My son came home from college and said, "Can we have Chinese food for Christmas Eve?" Uh... YEAH! Looks like I won't be cooking for the first time on Christmas Eve and it feels glorious!

We always do Chinese takeout for Christmas Eve!

 

[AuntieMe3]

I have three gifts left, which I wanted done before this weekend but had to have emergency dental work that has knocked me down. Hubby said he'll take care of the gifts today, so that just leaves wrapping and baking, which DD will help with. Looking forward to relaxing the next couple of days enjoying all the decorations.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Gifts have been moved to under the tree, minus a few that are staying unwrapped and will need to wait until Christmas Eve to be set up. I’ll be baking a cake and a bread on Monday and that will wrap up the Christmas cooking. We spent the morning cleaning up and I just placed the order for the New Years ingredients and goodies which will be arriving in a few hours. So, we’re pretty well set at this point and will be spending the rest of the year relaxing and doing family activities.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Almost everything is done, but I still need to make 2 batches of chocolate fudge and 1 peanut butter batch. I still have 8-10 presents to wrap. We shopped for holiday food this morning, but we forgot a few basics like bread and toilet paper I still have to work Monday next week and I have a big project due. I need to work on it and I’m just not feeling it, I want to just move right into Christmas mode! I also know I’m probably forgetting some things, I feel like there’s so much pressure to create a great holiday, but I know it’s self-inflicted

 

[disneychrista]

Department luncheon is done. Work party was last night.

Only thing left is putting together my contributions to Christmas dinner.

 

[luvsJack]

My house is decorated and clean. I went out and shopped for dh yesterday and then sat in the car and ordered most of it online. Supposed to be here Monday or Tuesday. I am finding that I really do not like shopping much anymore. Our little town is busting at the seams and it’s just a pain to navigate the roads and the store.

We will do a ham and yeast rolls and lots of appetizers Christmas afternoon with the kids. So most cooking actually waits until the 24th or 25th. I do have the rolls in the freezer.

Tomorrow I will gather all three granddaughters. They are spending the night. I bought each a new book and a couple of board games for us to enjoy together. Wanted to go to our local zoo lights but it’s supposed to be raining so may not can go until Monday night. So we will read together and play games and make and paint some salt dough ornaments for them to give as gifts.

Now to just tackle all the gifts that are still in their Amazon boxes. . Thought about just buying a bunch of red bows and slapping one on each of them.

 

[Hikergirl]

I've got all the presents wrapped and under the tree or in the stockings and it feels great. I'm usually finishing it up Christmas Eve before I go to bed but I was really on the ball this year.
The only thing left that I have to do for Christmas day is run to the bank and grocery store for produce.
Dh still has to go out shopping. He said "we should all go to the mall this weekend" I just laughed and walked away. Good luck with that

 

[CdnCarrie]

Finished my baking this morning. Wrapped the last gifts.
Nothing left to do except some cooking Christmas Eve.

 

[ronandannette]

I've got all the presents wrapped and under the tree or in the stockings and it feels great. I'm usually finishing it up Christmas Eve before I go to bed but I was really on the ball this year.
The only thing left that I have to do for Christmas day is run to the bank and grocery store for produce.
Dh still has to go out shopping. He said "we should all go to the mall this weekend" I just laughed and walked away. Good luck with that

I have no idea what progress DH has made with his shopping. I started and finished all of mine today. I walked into the first store at 11:00 am and left the last one right around 4:00 pm. Thank goodness I managed without going anywhere near the mall.

 

[superme80]

Christmas shopping is almost done. We are having a gift exchange at my SIL's on Christmas Eve, so I need to buy 2 gifts. We put the tree up this week. I will wrap gifts soon. I can't put anything out because my cats will get into them. We have already lost 1 ornament already!!!!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

After weeks-long hunt we got pretty much the gifts squared away.

A few gifts are coming home with my husband on his flight home, 1 gift showed up today, 3 gifts showed up yesterday (2 for 1 person in 1 box and 1 for another person), 1 gift showed up Wednesday, 2 remaining gifts left to arrive on Monday (cutting it close IMO) {Edit: just checked and the box is now supposed to arrive tomorrow--it's sitting in one of the local warehouses right now so just depends on if the Amazon Logistics workers will get it delivered tomorrow}.

Only other thing we need to get is a 2 gift cards.

We have 1st Christmas event tomorrow with my husband's dad so it's a good thing the gifts we needed arrived; one of them was 2 days late (though that happened with another gift due to a snow storm we had last weekend). His grandmother and one of his aunts came in from STL so we didn't have to drive down to them due to my husband's busy schedule with his project still so that was really nice of them to think about.

Only present I have wrapped is the one for my husband. All other gifts are waiting for my husband to look at and tomorrow morning we'll wrap the ones needed up quickly and off we'll go.

 

[Hikergirl]

I have no idea what progress DH has made with his shopping. I started and finished all of mine today. I walked into the first store at 11:00 am and left the last one right around 4:00 pm. Thank goodness I managed without going anywhere near the mall.

I finished on Thursday and it was crazy! I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like the next couple of days around here.
Good for you for starting and finishing today- now you can sit back and relax!

 

[AustinTink]

We always do Chinese takeout for Christmas Eve!

I hope this will become a tradition for us, too!

 

[lovesmurfs]

Not feeling it this year. DH, bless his heart, actually pulled everything out of the storage area so that I can decorate. I'm so, so behind. I actually got most of the fall stuff put away, so progress, right?

I didn't start shopping until earlier this week. Amazon should be declared a national treasure.

Update: 4th lithotripsy procedure was on Thursday (been having kidney problems since a severe infection and hospitalization in October). House is decorated (minimally), gifts are wrapped (still coming in...another shout out to Amazon), and I've got a menu done for Wednesday.

Usually I try to stack up the piles and "come out even" for the kids, etc., but frankly I don't care this year. Came out evenly in terms of cost, so it should be okay. If I could just stop ordering stuff, that would be great.

DH was so proud of himself for wrapping both of my gifts today.

 

[luvsJack]

I take two of my granddaughters to gym and art lessons each week so on the “shopping side of town” two nights a week. I noticed about the end of October that the traffic really started picking up. And the mall parking lot started being fuller and Walmart and Target both getting more crowded. I thought then “it’s going to be nuts out here for Christmas”. And yep! I was right. See at least one wreck every time I go out there.

Because I saw how busy it was already getting, I started out this year having almost everything bought the week of Thanksgiving. So I was definitely ahead of the game for the bulk of my shopping.


I already have plans on how to make next year even less stressful and being done earlier to prevent ANY shopping in all the craziness.

I will send out a group text to all the kids in a few days. And they will be instructed to make a wish list on Amazon for everyone. (The women will have to push the men). With a range of prices and updates on the kids’ list as they change their minds 20 times each. This will help with birthdays and Christmas. And I am giving myself a deadline to get everything ordered or purchased—thinking Thanksgiving but maybe even earlier.

I am already making lists of decorations that need replacing or updating. With the power of the internet those can be bought year round too!

Even looking at how far ahead I can make some of our traditional foods and put them in the freezer for holiday meals!

 

[Moliphino]

We haven't started yet. We may get a tree this weekend, since we'll be away for a wedding the next weekend.

To update - we still don't have a tree! Or any Christmas decorations taken out. It's all been overcome by events this year (my sister and I closed on a house last Thursday, had a family wedding to go to this weekend, my mom had the whole living room torn up to re-paint last week, etc).