Christmas Eve is two weeks from today! You’re welcome for the adrenaline!
I put the lights on the Christmas tree yesterday, and I got them right the first time. That has never happened before.
Well, there was ONE glitch: I somehow accidentally purchased one string of twinkle lights. I went with it, figuring the kids would like them and it would be fun to try them. I like them when I’m just looking at the tree while walking past it, but when I’m sitting in the living room reading a book and enjoying the tree, it DRIVES ME CRAZY. I have to block the twinkle section with my book. They’re like “TWINKLE! TWINKLE! TWINKLE! WE’RE TWINKLING! WE’RE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS AND WE’RE TWINKLING! HI! HI! TWINKLE! HI!!!” I still like them, but next year I’m putting them not-on-the-tree. Maybe on a railing, or around a window.
When @vandeblogger posted on Twitter about making one of the Christmas Bake Sale / Cake Walk cakes, I realized that the school never asked me to bake for the Holiday Fair this year. I’m relieved/offended/grateful/confused.
My plan to buy a Target gift card each time I went to Target worked BEAUTIFULLY. I barely even NOTICED, and didn’t get paralyzed by adding up the total amount and thinking “WHY DO WE EVEN BOTHER WITH CHRISTMAS???”
One of my favorite Christmas things now is sending holiday postcards on Postcrossing. I especially love doing the stamps: it’s my chance to buy the Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and holy angel stamps I like but don’t want to confuse my relatives with, and international postcards need TWO first-class stamps (plus a 10-cent one) so I get to mix up some interesting combinations. But I feel dumb working on them while my Christmas cards sit completely untouched on the dining room table.
I do a lot of gift-idea posts at Milk and Cookies, in case you’re getting frantic. Needless or perhaps needful to say, many of the posts that claim to be gifts for BOYS or for GIRLS are in fact for EITHER boys or girls; typically the boy/girl reference is only because the person I was buying for when I wrote the post was either a boy or a girl.
Gorgeous toy gift ideas (mostly baby/toddler)
An assortment of toys I’ve already played with (mostly preschool and young school-age)
Gift ideas for a 15-year-old girl
Gift ideas for 9-12-year-old boys
Gift ideas for 11-year-olds
Gift ideas for a 10-year-old
Gift ideas for a 10-year-old
Gift ideas for a 9-year-old girl
Gift ideas for a 9-year-old boy
Gift ideas for 6-year-olds
Gift ideas for a 5-year-old
An assortment of unusual gift ideas (teens and grown-ups)
Favorite craft gifts for kids
Knight and castle gifts
Dinosaur gifts
Non-toy gift ideas for children
Storybook treasury gifts
Gift ideas for an elderly person you don’t know very well
Gift ideas for people you don’t like
Gift ideas for people who don’t want anything
Gift ideas for people having financial problems
Big looking, small costing gift ideas
Gift ideas for someone who doesn’t have room for more STUFF
Gift ideas for pretty much absolutely anyone
Ooh! How handy to have all of the gift posts in one place, since I refer to them OFTEN.
Perhaps in your free time (Hee!)you could also link to the gift posts on this blog! I recently searched for the Hello Kitty post and the Melissa and Doug cupcake post myself, just to name two.
Is that too forward?
Oh! My word verification is “soursle.” As in, Swistle is such a good soursle of information!
No?
Hey Swistle, do you do private swaps on the forum/facebook? How fun would it be to become postcrossing buddies! I am 5 cards away from 1000 sent and all because of you!
One of my favourite lines in one of my favourite Christmas movies (Christmas Vacation) is “The little lights are not twinkling.”
This made me think of that, but kind of OPPOSITE.
“Twinkle, twinkle, TWINKLE” will make me laugh now every time I see a set of lights.
I love the gift recommendations, especially since we’re having difficulty with presents for the bigs.
Okay, time to go start the Christmas cards….no really, I’m going…see? here i go….
Thanks to your “Dinosaur gifts” list I already have birthday gifts picked out for my dinosaur obsessed daughter!
Also, received many compliments on the cake :)
That Target gift card idea was the best ever, I’ve referenced it and you several times. I, of course, am an idiot and didn’t actually DO it this year but I swear to GOD I am going to next year. So thanks.
And now I want that Harry Potter Charm bracelet soooo bad. I love it.
Awesome to have all these links in one place! Thanks for all your link-y work on our behalf!
Also, the first link I clicked: “gifts for people you don’t like”. Sad but true.
The Target gift card plan worked brilliantly for me as well. Thank you. I have all these cards I can use as gifts or for a purchase I hadn’t planned on… It’s wonderful and I plan to do it throughout the year in 2012.
Long-time reader! Thought I’d leave you a note that I am so happy to have all of these in one place! Thanks!
Thanks so much for your gift ideas. I used them last year and this year for my granddaughter and both times you were spot on! I never in a million years thought she would love the kitty with the long tail so much. And the sticky mosaics? Can I just say pure brilliance!