Merry Christmas DIS Campers (formerly Status Check: How's Everybody's Christmas Plans Going?)

[bama_ed]

We celebrate Christmas in a week and I wondered how everyone else is doing on Christmas plans: shopping, cooking, preparing for guests, or travelling.

Gift giving is not the primary purpose of the holiday, of course, but shopping for the holiday season can be stressful at times. Personally, I like to "point-and-click" and Santa actually drives a big brown UPS truck in my neighborhood. I aim for the first weekend of December for the bulk of my "clicking" to be done by and the second weekend as the backup (allowing time for Amazon free shipping in 5-8 business days). Pay for Prime shipping? Not me!

This weekend is a time to wrap and prepare plus lay in some ingredients from the grocery store before they get picked over. My boys will be home from college for Christmas Day (they aren't far away so they like their independence leading up to the 25th).

I am giving a few Disney items in lieu of our upcoming trip in March.

So how are all you Camping DIS'sers doing?

Bama Ed

PS - some of you lucky ones planned well enough ahead to be at the Fort soon...

 

[PaHunter]

Well, I haven't started yet, is that bad ???

 

[bama_ed]

Chris, according to this website http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/ the shortest day of the year will be on Tuesday Dec 22 (9 hours, 55 minutes and 46 seconds) where I live near Birmingham, AL. Enter the nearest big city to you at the top and check the Daylength Length/Difference columns for where you live. The solstice "moves" depending on where one lives.

After that it's all uphill towards spring (and my Fort trip in March).

Bama Ed

PS - and yeah, that's bad. But if you have a credit card and the will, you can still salvage your good name on Christmas....

 

[lodge]

Just opened family presents to one another tonight... Santa received a letter requesting him to arrive at our house early since we'll be at the Fort and can't bring the chimney with us! The first snow of the season fell and left a few inches on the ground tonight. Beautiful fire outside followed by a walk in the woods and some chicken noodle soup. Great night, great season!

 

[ForeverAlice]

Completely done gift shopping! I still have some baking to do and I just need to go to honeybaked for the ham next week!

 

[bjschil]

Bama_ed, Merry Christmas to you. We begin our Christmas celebrations tonight, with brother, wife, and family arriving from Green Bay for weekend, our four kids and families live nearby, as well as three other siblings, so, I am the lucky one hosting my family Christmas this evening, Saturday, and saying goodbye on Sunday.,,then, on Wednesday evening, we celebrate with our four kids spouses, and thirteen grandkids, and carries over to brunch Thursday morning. They scatter to other important sides of families later that day and evening, we meet some at church, talk on the phone with some on Christmas Day, visit and ooh and an over Santa gifts, and hurry home, cuz Grammy and Papa are leaving for Disney World on the 26th!! One daughter, son in law, and three kids are joining us In their fifth wheel for the first ten days. And, for good measure,our five year old granddaughter is sporting her new cast from a severe broken arm two days ago. But the first signatures have to be from Minnie and Mickey only.

 

[tiggerdad]

Ed, so far so good.

The camper is a wreck. Not sure how many of you do this, but at our house the camper is Santa's Workshop. It's filled with gifts, wrapping paper, bags, bows, and who knows what else. The gifts have all been put together first, then wrapped. This saves us a lot of headache on Christmas Day allowing for more family time.

The turkey has been moved from the freezer to the fridge to slow thaw between now and Christmas Day. All the ingredients for dinner are stocked so no last minute shopping for us.

Our mantle with some of our Christmas cards on display. Some of those cards are from some of you guys here on the Disboards. Special thanks to those of you from our family





In our kitchen we have motion lights which are low voltage and give just enough light to see at night if you get up and need a drink of water. During Christmas, we replace the low voltage lights with our Christmas Village and use the lights from the houses to light the kitchen at night.





One of those "houses" is my favorite one...



So, now we are just waiting for the fat guy to come down the chimney and bring our kids "most" of what was on those long lists that they mailed to him back in November. Like Ed, I like to click my way through the holidays as much as I can.

 

[PaHunter]

Ed, so far so good.

The camper is a wreck. Not sure how many of you do this, but at our house the camper is Santa's Workshop. It's filled with gifts, wrapping paper, bags, bows, and who knows what else. The gifts have all been put together first, then wrapped. This saves us a lot of headache on Christmas Day allowing for more family time.

The turkey has been moved from the freezer to the fridge to slow thaw between now and Christmas Day. All the ingredients for dinner are stocked so no last minute shopping for us.

Our mantle with some of our Christmas cards on display. Some of those cards are from some of you guys here on the Disboards. Special thanks to those of you from our family

In our kitchen we have motion lights which are low voltage and give just enough light to see at night if you get up and need a drink of water. During Christmas, we replace the low voltage lights with our Christmas Village and use the lights from the houses to light the kitchen at night.


One of those "houses" is my favorite one...


So, now we are just waiting for the fat guy to come down the chimney and bring our kids "most" of what was on those long lists that they mailed to him back in November. Like Ed, I like to click my way through the holidays as much as I can.

Love that the Deer Mounts get in the holiday spirit also. Very nice Christmas village, good use of space.

 

[dmaxphil]

So far so good. All shopping done. Wife got my truck airbags and wireless compressor system . I got her a new Little Giant ladder and some other stuff Spending Christmas Eve at folks house, and Christmas day at the in-laws. Camper is in storage and everyone is itching to take it back out.

 

[snowmedic]

Christmas gifts are all bought, have to find some elves to wrap them up for me. Christmas dinner is coming together, pick up the most important part ( to me anyways, out of 8 people only 4 will eat it ) on the 23rd, Prime Rib. Got my bonus last night and went to dinner at Applebee's, while there I looked around at the other customers, and when it came time to pay my bill, I asked our waiter if he could bring me the bill for the two older ladies that where sitting near us, and we paid there bill for them before we left. I try and " pay it forward " a couple times over the year, usually for the elderly, veterans, or active military.

Planning a trip to the Fort soon. Happy Holidays everyone. Vince.

 

[dmaxphil]

Very cool!

 

[bama_ed]

Tiggerdad's picture of the two mounted animals and the Christmas tree reminds me of Country Bear Jamboree. Is Buff also mounted on the wall behind the top of the tree? It's like they're about to start talking up there on the wall.

My plans are firming up. Christmas Eve is with the in-laws. Christmas Day will be here at home with my 3 kids (18-23 yo "kids") for presents, breakfast, church, and Fandango tickets for Star Wars - The Force Awakens at 130pm in the afternoon for the 5 of us (as a family we used to go to movies - the kids talked the whole time). The day after Christmas my family gets together with my family members from out of town. So three days of family togetherness will occur like many of you who celebrate across many families.

BTW, Country Bears is one of my all-time faves in the MK (Haunted, Carousel, PeopleMover, Tiki). I am an old time WDW guy and proud of it. I do have to work this week Mon-Thurs noon but my boss is off, err'body else is off, so I can get caught up on stuff.

Tick tock. Have I been good this year? DW is the ultimate judge of that....

Bama Ed

 

[PaHunter]

Still not done shopping for the DW. Maybe Monday or Tuesday morning. Have to finalize plans for Christmas eve dinner. Thinking I will make some venison chili to start, maybe have hamburgers. Some cold shrimp, with cocktail sauce and keilbasa. Will have another big turkey and ham dinner on Christmas with the rest of the family. Project for the trailer came along well today, a little more and I will have pictures.

 

[bama_ed]

Got my bonus last night and went to dinner at Applebee's, while there I looked around at the other customers, and when it came time to pay my bill, I asked our waiter if he could bring me the bill for the two older ladies that where sitting near us, and we paid there bill for them before we left. I try and " pay it forward " a couple times over the year, usually for the elderly, veterans, or active military.

You're a good man, Snowmedic. You inspire me.

Bama Ed

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

We had "my" Christmas this past Wednesday night, Thursday I came back to work and I don't go back home til January 14th. It's hard to be away from my family and friends during the holidays, thanks Ed for this thread, it going to help me through the holidays bet along with a lot of pictures from the DW. I did good, my parents got me a Craftsman Heavy duty impact and impact socket set (for them emergency along side the interstate I hope I never have). My wonderful DW got me some nice LED headlight bulbs for my truck, I've been complaining about how my stock lights wasn't bright enough especially if it's raining at night. She also got me a 75 quart Yeti ice chest. I gave her a Silhouette machine and everything that goes along with it, so I'm sure we'll have plenty of monogram t-shirts and stickers for our Disney trip this February! I also gave her some Pandora Disney charms and the Disney Park edition bracelet, and some Weather Tech Mats for her Camaro. I love my Weather Tech floor mats, a great investment for any vehicle!

Like Tiggerdad our camper is one of Santa's workshops. Hope he doesn't leave it in a mess, I gotta start getting it ready for our Disney trip this February!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to my fellow DIS'ers!

 

[2goofycampers]

We did Christmas on Thanksgiving with DS. We are now in Ga, 5 hours until our destination CG of 2 weeks in Fl. Not The Fort, not yet anyway. We will spend Christmas Day with a lot of snowbirds. We will be having turkey, if we can find one. If not, ham. Or maybe Denny's. LOL We did leave a surprise envelope for DS.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

I aim for the first weekend of December for the bulk of my "clicking" to be done by and the second weekend

.
.
1) I am usually done with Christmas Shopping by mid-November.
. . . thus, my stress level and my overspending are reduced at Christmastime
. . . the exception is something a person sees advertised at the last moment
. . . I do buy the occasional last-minute gift, but rarely
2) Many who have spoken with me have noticed I do try to plan well ahead.
. . . my advance-planning sometimes even includes time to be spontaneous

 

[ilovedisneymm]

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Hubby and I just got back home from church and about to head out just the two of us to finish some last minute shopping. Both our parents live very close (same town) and will be at my parents for brunch on xmas eve morning and his side for xmas eve afternoon. We attend Christmas Mass on xmas eve and can't wait for that. The church is so beautiful this time of year and the music is so calming and peaceful. Christmas day we spend at home watching the kids unwrap their gifts and staying warm by the fire relaxing for the day. I plan to make a lasagna for our Christmas meal.

That is our routine, Christmas with the extended family on the 24th and staying home on the 25th. It works best with children I think.

Will be headed down to the Fort here really soon.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

We attend Christmas Mass on xmas eve and can't wait for that.

1) We go to church services on Christmas morning.
2) I typically preside over one of the three services on Christmas Eve.
. . . the church is always looking nice for the season
. . . totally different viewpoint from the front looking backward
. . . it is also nice to see people actually dressed for church (like it used to be when I was growing up).

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Since this is a "Christmas Plans" thread, I will add that after our shopping was wrapped up, we opted for a movie this afternoon Most couples/families catch a theater movie over the holidays and I have a recommendation on that! Our choices were (1) Star Wars....too crowded for me thanks. Plus hubby nor I have ever really watched the ones when we were kids (I know, I know, how could that possibly be...meh) (2) the sequel to the sequal to the sequal for the Hunger Games....meh. Or Into the Heart of the Sea....the winner! It was one of the best movies I've seen all year. I highly recommend it, you won't be disappointed.