Dang it, it's Christmas!!

I don't have a freaking clue how Christmas got here so fast!!! Didn't we just do Christmas like...a month ago????

Hounding the kids for Christmas lists. Paige just sent me an email with hers, River's, Lulu's and Milo's. Though nothing for William...and he's SO hard to shop for.

Also need lists from my boys. You think after 30+ years of dealing with me, they'd know how this works....give me a wishlist, and you get what you want. DON'T give me a wish list, and you'll get socks and underwear.

Son #2, who's the addict I occasionally talk about and who's now been in recovery for 2+ years, thankfully, sent me his right after I asked, (first time evah!) but with the caveat that he may be in jail over Christmas so don't buy him anything till he knows. He's been slowly working his way through past charges or warrants or violation probations or whatever's still hanging over his head from his former life (that's the way he refers to it ) and he goes before a judge again early December. His lawyer isn't quite as certain he'll be able to walk away from this particular one with time served. He's stoic about it, knows that this is just one more consequence of his addiction, and he's head down and moving forward no matter what. I'm proud of him for that!

Son #3's birthday is the 10th. Not a dang thing from him for a list, except an apology for having taken so long to get his list to me! Uh huh.

And Son #4 sent me a text asking if we could Christmas shop together. Excuse me??? Where's YOUR list???? All I got was birds chirping after that one.

I did buy some adorable elf slippers, complete with jingly bells on the turned up red toes, to annoy my kids with, and amuse the grandkids. At least I can start wearing them now.

 

I agree with you Ronni, Christmas has just crept up on us this year. With just over two weeks to go, that suits my wife and I just fine. Can't bare the long pre Christmas of 'in your face' TV ads that start around September.
Pleased to hear that son#2 is doing well....Best wishes to him

 

I haven't done any shopping but we do have a tree up and decorated. I got my cards out today and checked my address book and made a list. I'll try to get them out tomorrow. Without kids home to nag us we get things done in our time. Need to get things mailed to grand children so they get there by Christmas. Mostly the family knows that our stuff gets there when it gets there. dooley

 

It's sneaking up on me too!
I have bought a few gifts and decorated the house, but I fell like I am very far behind this year. Daughter has a dental appointment in the big city on Monday, and so we will do some shopping after that. There is a great mall there, and that should have everything we need. Everything is so expensive!!

 

Do not panic, Christmas is 15 days away yet Ronni. Sooner its here sooner come Spring. Light weather begins in March, hold on to that thought.
K

 

Started some decorating at Ed's.


Got the teeny tiny tree done, and a bit of decorating on the living room shelves...the lights around them were from his mother and have some significance. Too big/too much for the teeny tiny tree, so that was the solution. I'll put more Christmasy bits and pieces around on the weekend when I head back. Need to decorate the mantel too.







He wants to get a bigger tree during the after Christmas sales. Says up till now, he's had zero interest in the whole Christmas decorating schtick, but I've revitalized him.

Ed and Serena are sleepi......er, supervising the operation!

 

You're a good one, Ronni. Good that you get him motivated.
Over here Christmas is not as big a deal as there. It is highly commercial here.
Still the spirit behind the holiday is good and one gets a pleasant feeling from all the friendliness and colours.
Those two are taking a well-earned work pause to plan the next steps of course.

 

I haven't put out any Christmas decorations yet as I've had a landscaping crew at the house replacing landscape ties used to terrace the back yard with cement allen blocks. They've been at it for close to 2 weeks and once they're done I'll put the outside decorations up which are 3 large inflatables - Santa, Snowman and a pink flamingo wearing a Santa hat. I love these inflatables as you get a lot of bang for your buck in terms of 'show' and ease of putting them out.

Will be getting the grandkids over as it is their job to decorate my fake Christmas tree. They quite look forward to decorating it and now that all the ornaments aren't going on just 1 branch it is starting to look nicer.

 

I love that idea! Paige lets the kids decorate her tree....it's becoming a tradition. Which means that the tree is VERY bottom heavy with ornaments and just a scattering at the top. She puts the ornaments that are special to her right at the top so they won't get damaged. She, like me, has evolved traditions around ornaments.

Each of my kids has an ornament for every year of their lives till they moved out. Some I bought, some we made. But it's been a tradition. I bought Paige her very first Christmas ornament at a craft fair I went to in May of the year she was born. She was my first (and only) girl .. she has 4 older brothers..and I was so excited to have a girl that I wanted an especially cute ornament to celebrate her birth and they were selling them at this craft fair, so why not? It was a rocking horse, which was her nursery theme.

When she started having kids, she decided she wanted each of THEIR first ornament to be rocking horses too. Awww

Here's a collage she took last year and posted to Facebook ,of hers, River's and Lucy's. We're shopping for Milo's now. The caption on the photo was "Keeping Traditions Alive."

 

Christmas cards written today for posting tomorrow.
About 10 years ago we told everyone that we would not be sending cards in future but instead we would make a generous contribution to the charity 'Cure Parkinsons Trust'. This is because we have a nephew who at 42 was diagnosed with Parkinsons so we decided to support the charity.
Over the years more and more people are sending cards to us so we are now supporting the charity AND sending cards

Next job at the weekend, wrap all the presents......although a late start, we seem to be ahead of the game already.....

 

@Ronni - the twins love to come and decorate my tree. Started when they were about 2 and could barely put up an ornament but they did manage albeit ALL in the same spot. Over the years (they're almost 7 now) they've gotten better and better at it and actually do space them out. Most of my ornaments were made or collected over the years and are rather more like keepsakes than Christmas ornaments. I do insist on putting lights on the tree first THEN they can fly at it with the ornaments.

On another note almost nobody here sends out Christmas cards. I mail out a few to a couple of the elderly relatives who do not have internet but the rest of us exchange email news updates and electronic cards. I used to really love getting Christmas cards not really for the card but for the letters inside that re-capped the year. Was a real time of catching up on everything we did. I used to hand write mega letters to everybody. Was a real chore but nice to let everybody know how we were all doing.

 

We stopped sending cards because in our view the money spent on cards and postage (quite a substantial amount) could be better used by a charity. I don't bother with email greetings and don't see the point of them. Neither do I subscribe to electronic Christmas cards. i had one yesterday from a cousin. Apart from the naff scene, what are you supposed to do with it? I deleted it. If you want to send someone a seasonal greeting, PICK UP THE PHONE

 

I love the rocking Horse and the idea behind it Ronni.
I have a rocking horse, I bought it at a DIY store years ago: its musical and did rock to and fro but alas it got tired of rocking......

K

 

Personally I LOVE the emailed Christmas greetings I get! Fewer and fewer folks are sending Christmas cards these days, opting instead for the virtual greeting. And while I do miss the colorful display of the dozens of cards I used to get, I much prefer the abundance of news that generally comes with an emailed greeting. I want to know what folks are doing, how the family is getting on, the latest birth or college grad or pet or vacation, and most folks don't do that in a regular card. At best it's a Hallmark verse with a signature. The emails I get around this time of the year are much more personal and newsy and tend to be full of life and vigor. I love that. I love the snapshot into the lives of my friends, especially the ones I don't get to see very often.

Perhaps my preference is also because I am tech savvy and have an abundance of devices and apps and uses for them so I've moved almost entirely away from paper and its equivalent.

To each his own, eh?