Christmas talk

[bk1]

How is everyone doing with their shopping? Any fun Christmas activities you have been doing or plan to do?

[suzv]

I've ordered a few things for J and one thing for my sister, but that's it. Hoping to knock the rest out in the next week or so. I need to figure out something for my dad still. I told my H that he is in charge of planning and ordering gifts for his family this year.

We've been trying to keep busy with holiday activities on the weekends. J is super high energy so getting out of the house and outside is the one thing that keeps me sane on the weekend! The one thing I love about fall was all the free/mostly free outdoor events on the weekends, so I've been trying to find things that like that are winter/holiday related. So far we did a Santa sing a long at the library and walked around a garden nursery to pick out a few wreaths and outdoor decorations. This weekend we might head to a festival at a local farm/orchard, or head downtown to see the Christmas markets. We are also going to see the winter flower/light show at the flower conservatory in a few weeks.

[luv2rn4fun]

The boys’ Christmas (and C’s bday) shopping is all done and has all arrived (as of last night)! I went through all their gifts and organized bday vs Christmas and then figured out what needed to be wrapped vs what fit in their stockings!

DH got a tv for Black Friday so he is done (will probably get him some specialty/craft beers for his stocking though). MIL is done. Step dad is done. I need to buy gift cards for my dad and step mom.

We have seen Santa at Disneyland, house and tree are all decorated, we do nearly daily walks to see lights at night, and we are reading lots of Christmas books!

We will probably go to a boat parade/event at our lake this weekend. Extended family Christmas party on Sunday. Disneyland on Monday. C has a Christmas pageant for preschool on the 19th. Christmas Eve is at my dads house and then we will be home for Christmas. Probably leaving the 27th to see the ILs (they live 5 hours away).

[pooh8402]

We're going okay with the shopping. I just have 4 people that I'm clueless on--my stepmom and stepdad, my BIL (sister's H), and my FIL. I've asked sister (she said I don't know either) and MIL (who said she would get a list to me, it's been almost 2 weeks).

No real plans for Christmas activities. Between all of the OOT trips that H and I have needed to make, and my doctor appointments, I've just been trying to keep my head above water.

[katespade]

At some point, I'll put the tree up. That's about as far as my Christmas planning has gotten. We did pick out/buy our 2018 ornament to add to the tree, so I'm going to pretend that's progress as far as activities/decorating goes. lol.

I ordered a small gift for H, and asked him for his list of things he wants (he prefers to do gifts that way). I also bought a gift for my mom. We don't exchange gifts with anyone else, so that makes my list pretty easy.

SS deadline feels like it's approaching more quickly than normal this year. I need to get the rest of my shopping for that done ASAP.

[wineandcheese]

We’ve barely started shopping. Hopefully this weekend we will start. I wrote out our list with ideas at least. We only have one person we are struggling with, BIL. Some of the items we want to get we need to go to Disney for. DH and I are planning on going to Disney Springs sometime soon to shop.

I’m pretty much all done decorating, just need to decorate outside. I’m just going to go to the dollar store for some garland and such. I found some extra lights that I hope work. All my outside Christmas decorations are still in New York. A friend is bringing them here next month when he comes back down so I’ll have them next year.

We are hosting Christmas so we need to work on a menu. My mom just called asking about it then yelled at me when I said we haven’t started planning. DH and I are planning a quiet Christmas Eve so we are just doing appetizers, wine and Christmas movies. All I have planned for Christmas Day is ham lol.

[bk1]

We have 6 people on DH's side to shop for, 3 on my side, plus the girls and each other. DH buys for me and I do the rest of the shopping. I'm actually further along then usual. I need to order FIL's but have an idea so that helps. I would like to get DH a little more and something else for my mom but I haven't figured out what yet. I also need to get C something else to even out the girls +stockings for everyone. Otherwise I'm just waiting on packages. I even have started wrapping. 


I haven taken the girls to see Santa once. That's all the holiday activities we have done so far. I was planning on taking them out this weekend because a ton of stuff was planned, but we are expecting ice/snow so I'm sure we won't be leaving the house. We will still bake cookies as we get closer. I may invite my niece's over for that as well. I've done it twice before and one time my SIL just dropped them off (without asking ahead of time) and eventually came back, and last year she brought along her teenage niece to join us. Both were okay, but I was annoyed at her just doing what she wants without asking ahead of time. It makes me really not want to invite them because SIL is always a wildcard for that kind of stuff. 

[krystee]

I am so behind, thanks to the nine-day plague in our household! My kids are mostly done, one nephew is done, and that's it. I have like 20 more people to go.

We have decorated the tree and yard, done a horse-drawn carriage ride with carols, went to a tree lighting, went to a Christmas event at our local play place, and watched tons of Christmas movies. Still on the list is driving to see the lights, going downtown to see the Macy's windows and Christkindlmarket, and baking cookies!

[Blue Moon]

I have no idea, lol. I've ordered a ton of stuff online, but can't even remember what I've ordered and where I've hidden it at this point. I feel like I've been coming home to a package a day lately, and I'm trying to quickly open and hide the item without my kids seeing. I think my kids should have enough gifts, but I need stocking stuffers. I stupidly got the giant Pottery Barn stockings so I need a lot of things to make it look festive and not sad and droopy. My other gifts are mostly done, but nothing is organized or wrapped.

We did an Evening with Santa last week and we've been doing Elf on a Shelf each night. I don't know why so many parents hate it. It takes me 15 seconds each night to set up a little scenario (ie, Elf eating cereal, Elf reading a Christmas book) and B absolutely loves it. It's totally worth it to see how excited she is. The tree is up, and the house is decorated. Tomorrow I scheduled Christmas portraits at a mall studio that I have to quickly turn into Christmas cards. I have a cookie exchange planned with my coworkers so I need to get my act together for that as well. We are hosting Christmas Eve so we also need to plan a menu and get ready for the craziness that is H's growing family.

[HoneySpider]

I'm doing fairly well with gifts and stocking stuffers, better than I usually am at this point. However next week is a busy one for us and then all of a sudden it will be the week before Christmas - yikes!! Thinking of it that way makes me feel really unprepared.

We haven't done a whole lot yet, we're going to see Santa tomorrow and get our tree and my mom and I are starting cookies and then I'll do the rest next weekend. We put up the stockings and I'm excited to have a fireplace to hang them on! I also got my nutcrackers from my mom's house, she's been storing them for me forever. We have some other various decorations up but still need to do outside lights.

[luv2rn4fun]

We tried to do the boat parade at the harbor last night. DH got off at 4, we met him at work, got some dinner on the way and were there around 5:15p. Boat parade started at 7:30 so we walked around the harbor looking at lights. C didn’t nap yesterday so I knew it would be interesting. He kept saying how he just wanted to go home. We did see some boats but it just wasn’t worth all the effort it took for what we got out of it. Would have been much more enjoyable with just DH and I, some snacks, and wine. Live and learn. The icing on the cake is L is up super early (as am I) and he now has my cold. We have a family Christmas event tomorrow and are supposed to go to disneyland for C’s bday on Monday (his bday isn’t til 12/21 but we can’t go starting 12/12 because we are blocked for the holidays).

[wineandcheese]

MIL told H they plan on coming down Christmas Eve and spending the night. Now I have to make a full meal and entertain lol.

[luv2rn4fun]

We had a great time at our extended family Christmas party on Sunday! So great to see my cousins and see all of our kiddos play together!

I even came home and wrapped all the presents we have so far (including bday for C)!! So glad to have that all done!

[HoneySpider]

I still need one small gift for DH and Im stumped. He's so hard to buy for.

Otherwise, I have almost everything bought!

[wineandcheese]

I have no clue what to get H. The only gift I bought was a bottle of whiskey he likes. I will also add he was with me when I bought it lol. I have 1 other, a battery operated air pump. Besides that, I’m clueless.

On a good note, the gift my mom wanted was half off!