I am starting to feel somewhat more accomplished, in re Christmas preparations. With all these days off work (I am still testing positive but still feeling basically fine), I am making significant progress. I have finished shopping for everything that needs to be shipped to a recipient, and have shipped the things I needed to ship. I have finished the two children with reasonable wish lists, and am chipping away at the three without. I have finished my brother/SIL/niece/nephew, and my parents, and Paul. I have gift cards on the way for the various mail carriers. I have finished the shopping for the two kids we “adopted” from a local holiday-assistance program, and have dropped off their gifts at the center; that’s a big project but has rapidly become one of my favorite parts of Christmas; if you are interested-but-anxious, as I was, I highly recommend trying it one year to see if you like it too.
I have finished the Christmas cards, and have had the children bring the boxes of Christmas card supplies back up to the barn, remembering to keep out a little pile of them for giving out with the gift cards. I have gotten the finished cards into the mail, and it gives me a happy feeling to think of them winging out in all directions. Cards have started to arrive, and I am putting them up around the doorway. I have brought down the rest of the Christmas dishes/mugs/dishtowels.
The stockings still need work, but I still have time, and I can’t do the in-store part of that until I’m not shedding virus, and I do have enough of a good start that I’m not panicking (yet). I’ve probably missed all the fun Trader Joe’s stuff, but maybe not.
I still need to do alllll the wrapping (except for the few things already wrapped and shipped). But I had the kids bring the wrapping paper down from the barn into the house proper, and that is a start.
Oh!: and I found where I’d put the Scentsicles!! (That’s a Target link; here’s the Amazon link.) This is at least the second year they’ve been missing, but I was SO SURE I had put them somewhere that MADE SENSE. I could have just bought more, but first of all they do cost a little, and secondly I couldn’t remember which scent I’d preferred (White Winter Fir, it turns out). So anyway I found them: they were in the Christmas cards box, but had gotten under some mostly-empty boxes of cards so I couldn’t see them; when I took out allll the cards boxes this year I found them. And that IS such a good place for them, because I often get the cards out before anything else. I have two ornaments boxes and use them alternating years, so I can’t put the Scentscicles in with either set, unless I get two sets of Scentsicles, and maybe that would be the sensible thing to do when this set runs out, considering.
I still need to put together my co-worker gifts. I have a gift for my Secret Santa person (I got her one lighted birch tree, plus a USB wall charger block and a nice long A to C cable), and that all needs to be packaged up nicely in a gift bag or something, perhaps with some candy because I feel a little nervous about the gift, and a gift tag, and I like to festoon the top of the gift bag with a string of those tiny battery-powered lights, the ones that are on a teeny wire; I buy them on like 75-90% off after Christmas, and it’s so fun and silly to see them lighting up the tissue paper. And then for each co-worker’s stocking bag I went with a hand-held postal scale (they’re cheaper in bulk but there’s shipping, so if you only need a few here’s the Amazon link).
(image from sciplus.com)
I realize this is a little odd, gift-wise. But because everyone who decides to participate in this gift exchange has to gather together a LOT of gifts, the gifts are by necessity inexpensive; and that usually means a baggie of candy, or cocoa packets, or an ornament, or a candy cane decorated as a reindeer, or something of that sort. And that is very, very nice, and fills us all with goodwill and cheer! And it also gives me the freedom to do something different and perhaps odd, because our candy/cocoa/ornament/reindeer bases are pretty much covered. So I got everyone the scale I use ALL THE TIME, even though Paul said “But does anyone even SEND letters?” Because you know who is more likely than the usual person to still send letters? PEOPLE WHO WORK IN LIBRARIES. And it doesn’t have to be used for letters! You can weigh anything up to four ounces!
Now I need to package up all these scales somehow (probably in these peppermint treat bags, if I can get them here in time), with ribbon and to/from labels. And I wondered, should I CLIP SOMETHING in the little clip? A hot cocoa packet, for example? Paul said the obvious thing would be to clip a Christmas card there (to show people what the lil thing is FOR, if nothing else), and yes, but sigh. I don’t want to write out 20 Christmas cards just as accessories; my co-workers don’t want or need a Christmas card from me; the card won’t fit in the baggie. I do have in my possession eentsy-weentsy little 1.5″-square baggies (purchased in the making of Elizabeth’s tree-nut-free countdown-to-Christmas calendar); I could fill them with Christmas M&Ms or Cadbury snowballs and clip THOSE. I think that would be cuter. Also: yummier. Or I think I could clip the baggie of M&Ms/Cadbury AND a small gift tag with to/from on it, and skip the whole outer gift bag and ribbon situation.
ARE YOU MAKING PROGRESS TOO?? Tell Swistle!
We got a tree today and some pine roping, and the cards arrived, so they need to be signed, addressed, and mailed.
yes to “adopting” a child or two if your budget allows. it’s such a good antidote to the frustration of shopping for already quite well resourced older children. it is so comparatively easy to make the holiday dreams of a little one come true!
I love the postal scale idea. And it reminds me of a gift that I got 15 years ago. I was the godmother of a friend’s daughter who was being baptized in England over Christmas. So I stayed near my friend’s husbands family and his mom bought me a luggage scale for Christmas. When I got it I didn’t think I’d use it much at all. But I use it all the time and think of his mom every time.
Nope.
I spent time trying to get some lights on the outside of the house and it ended up being a waste of time because they won’t stay. And that failure led to some wallowing and now I feel even more behind. It doesn’t help that I have general house stuff to do along with the Christmas stuff. But hopefully tomorrow I will get the wreaths up that I bought 2 weeks ago and get stuff on the still naked tree. I’ve got one set of gifts that need to be shipped but I haven’t finished shopping for those people. I’ll figure out a time to do that.
It will be fine. It will be fine.
I don’t buy gifts for anyone (nor does anyone buy for me), so I don’t have to worry about that.
The tree is decorated, and I found a new ornament that portrays the symbol/big statue/landmark of our new home, since we moved in May. Each place we’ve lived is represented on the tree.
All the food shopping is done, but I still need to sort out the menu, and the baking schedule.
Due to Canada’s postal strike (which will be over soon, as the government has stepped in), I have not yet sent my holiday card exchange cards, which were supposed to be mailed by December 1. So that’s weighing on my mind.
I’m glad you are so much further ahead!
My mother in law is visiting. We had not known what to get her, but on a hunch I asked if she would like a winter coat like mine, and she WOULD, and I ordered it right then and it will arrive by Christmas.
I am pretty much finished with gift shopping, mainly because my family is doing a Secret Santa exchange this year so I only had to buy one present instead of eight. But we started a home improvement project recently that needs to be completed before my family comes here for an early Christmas lunch on the 22nd, and I’m not sure we’re going to finish on time
Let’s see, the trees (two small fakes, one with colored lights and all the wacky/child made ornaments, one with white lights and tasteful ((10 year old: “boring”)) ornaments) have been up for a week. Gingerbread was made and decorated last Saturday, this week I wrapped gifts for stockings while listening to an old Christmas episode of This American Life, as per tradition. Today we made peanut butter blossom cookies and cards for teachers and went to a holiday concert. Still need to get some groceries, and stockings will be stuffed Christmas Eve. Stockings are extravagant, because that’s what I grew up with and because we stopped doing under the tree gifts a few years ago, which I highly recommend.
Secret Santa stuff is so much fun!
I’ve finished nearly all of the shopping (my own children still need to be inventoried and tweaked but all the OUTSIDE gifts are done) and I got the Christmas pictures taken (omg so far behind) and we visited Santa and I have sorted all the to be mailed presents and I will mail them on Tuesday after wrapping them on Monday. And then Wednesday is Alex’s field trip (and it’s to Epcot, isn’t she a lucky child?!?) so that will be nice and festive and give me a glow of holiday feeling.
Christmas cards are still a disaster, don’t be surprised if you get mine in February. I just didn’t do them properly this year at all. Maybe I can blame the Canada mail strike somehow…
We are in a year-long temp housing situation due to an Exciting Employment Opportunity, but: temp. Anyway, my plan was to improv a Christmas, like we did early in our married years *cough* decades ago – two years we had Christmas lights on houseplants, one year we had a tree made out of bamboo and crepe paper, I was figuring Christmas lights on a houseplant and a puddle of fabric underneath and the few little ornaments we brought with us on the houseplant and on the puddle of fabric and maybe we could grab some pinecones from the ground in the woods, won’t that be delightful? And then oh, memorial service December 14 for a close family member and chaotic preparation for the same and travel and all that. So! We have done *zilch* that looks festive aside from getting the tiny advent presents out to their person which did look festive because it is an explosion of tiny wrapped presents (and okay I have now finally wrapped two presents for spouse and bought a festive tea, but still: zero decor; but nearly everything is ordered anyway?), and it is weird but fine; I think I might have been more upset if we’d been doing Normal Christmas and then it got torpedoed, but on the other hand it would have been easier to follow a script while kind of dazed; anyway, this is what we’ve got. Twinkle lights are usually one of my favorite parts, and… well, I got the box of twinkle lights we brought with us out; the twinkle lights, in their box, are on the coffee table, does that count? Anyway. Things are not presently on fire, just blurry and weird, and I am trying to not anticipate the fires ahead. Things are fine.
At least probably fine? It is okay. And probably the twinkle lights will come out of their box today, or maybe tomorrow, and the festive tea smells so good, and I’ll be shipping out more things to people, and I miiiight have slightly overbought for Christmas for spouse vs. normal standards but, well, look, it’s an emotionally complicated year, it is okay to have extra books and extra chocolate, probably?
I am *delighted* at the postage scale idea! And intrigued by Scentsicles; I wonder if I might elude being allergic to them, or not? (I am allergic to most Fragrances, which is annoying, esp. when I like nice smells!)
Also so glad covid has not been hammering you, and YES buying presents for kids who do not already have everything is so enjoyable!
(and mini lights in the bag: BRILLIANT! Now wondering how long they’d last if one turned them on and packed them into a box one was sending someone for Christmas…
Presents are mostly done, but I still have to figure out some components of Christmas dinner and some decorations will not be put up this year, but I’m okay with that.
My biggest to do is finding one or maybe even two Christmas movies to watch with our five year old who loves cartoons but will have nightmares for several days if she watches even short episodes with “villains”. So if anyone has a recommendation for Christmas movies for smaller kids, I’d appreciate it.
All the remaining gifts on my list have been ordered and should be here soon (I hope). All but three of the gifts I have are wrapped. Christmas cards sent. I need one or two more stocking stuffers but am stumped at what to get. About to get started on the Christmas baking.
I have no idea whether I am making progress on Christmas or not. I’m at the stage where all sorts of things are getting done. It doesn’t seem like there’s all that much more to do. And then I remember something big I haven’t even started thinking about… like Christmas food. But, this is supposed to be fun and joyful, and I am trying to just be present and enjoy the ride, no make myself crazy.
I wouldn’t worry about the Birch tree gift. I would not buy myself one, have not even considered it despite your many glowing recommendations. But, I would have been very happy to receive that as a Secret Santa gift. Much better than yet another Christmas mug filled with candy. I don’t know where I would put it, but I would receive it with joy and bring it home to look around and see where it could go.