Monday, December 07, 2009

Monday!

Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home. ~Carol Nelson

It's MONDAY!!! After a very long weekend, during which I barely left the house because of the weather (I do my very best to NOT drive in snow) I'm celebrating the return to normalcy (or what passes for normal in my house).

I still haven't even started my Christmas shopping. I'm a bad, bad wife-mother-sister-daughter-niece-aunt-friend -- I have a list (I've even checked it twice *g*), but I haven't gotten my butt in gear and done the shopping. The worst part? I plan on doing 90% off it online!! I don't even have to leave this chair. Sheesh.

I will (I WILL) get it done today. Dang it.

How about you? Christmas shopping? Do you do it? Have you done it? Any hints?

I have one hint: Instead of shipping via the post office (where the lines are already insane), use your local UPS store. I had to mail something out the other day -- I had one thing going UPS cuz it was cheaper (the heavy stuff? SO much cheaper via UPS Ground than USPS, just saying), and saw that they ship via regular mail, too. They add a tiny surcharge for the service, but IMHO walking in and getting helped ASAP as opposed to waiting behind 10 - 15 people with piles of packages was worth it. I don't know if your UPS store is this "un-busy", but you should check it out.

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After much agony and see-sawing back and forth, I decided to tell DD about Santa. She cried for a minute (childhood lost... it broke my heart a bit) and then her sense of magic took over. I told her that we, as older people, were charged with keeping the spirit of Santa alive, and to keep Christmas magical for children. She's totally into "magical" and is so excited now. She did pepper me with questions:

"What about the letters to Santa? Where do they go?"

"Who eats the cookies?" -- this one still has her baffled, because I told her I didn't eat them ... I didn't! DH did, but for some reason that answer hasn't occurred to her yet.

And lots more, but all-in-all, it went better than I thought. It hasn't translated over to the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy yet. We'll see if it clicks in her brain at some point in the future.

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You Are Brie



You are sophisticated and elegant. You know how to carry yourself well.

And while you make a great entrance, you don't make a lot of fuss.



You are really quite laid back and mellow. You don't have a care in the world, and you're not going to get worked up about anything.

You are a natural romantic, and you have a tendency to day dream. You find it easy to go to your "happy place."



Uh.. no. *Maybe* the "You are a natural romantic, and you have a tendency to day dream", but the rest? So wrong...

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9 comments:

Dru said...

thanks for the heads-up about UPS. I'll have to see if my local store ships regular mail.

My Christmas list is so short that in less than 10 minutes yesterday I made all purchases and now I'm done.

You Are Mozzarella

You are mild mannered and pleasant. You are extremely easy going.

You are also quite lovable and tender. You wear your heart on your sleeve.

You never try to complicate matters or bring drama. You just go with the flow.

You are very delicate and sensitive. It's easy for you to be overpowered by stronger forces.

So true.

I'm glad DD was okay with it. It's funny how she hasn't equated the cookie-eating with DH.

Have a great Monday.

Diane Craver said...

I haven't started Christmas shopping but not stressed about it. I know I probably should be. I'm going to make my hubby help this year. LOL

When I told Amanda there wasn't a Santa, she insisted on believing anyhow. I think she wanted the extra gift from Santa that I used to leave under the tree. Glad your daughter was okay with this new knowledge.

Good luck on shopping.

J.A. Saare / Aline Hunter said...

We finished our Santa shopping, but need to finish up for friends and family. I probably should have done a majority of it via the internet. Now, I have to face the hordes at the store. ;-)

Melissa McClone said...

I'm working on my shopping, a little at a time. I've ordered a few gifts for friends that were sent via Amazon. Saves me a lot of work that way!

Unknown said...

Hubs and I will do the shopping Friday night, but all we've got left are a few generic exchange gifts and our mothers' things. We're done with each other and the men in the family.

Brandy said...

I'm mostly done with my shopping. I may pick up one more thing for Chris and then there's the SIL&BIL's gift and then I'm done. I have NO idea what to gift them.

Glad the Santa talk went okay with your daughter. It's quite cute that she hasn't figured out the cookie thing.

I hope you have a great Monday!

Tori Lennox said...

I haven't done any of my shopping either. Guess I'd better quit dilly-dallying...

Dru said...

You were right on the money with regards to UPS. I went to the post office and the lines were out the door..when I went to the UPS store, there was only one person inside. I was in and out in less than 10 minutes and the line continued to grow outside the post office.

Ceri Hebert said...

I haven't started shopping yet either. But that's par for the course for me. i'm always last minute. I hate it, but thats the way it is. I keep telling myself, though, that I need to start in July. Never happens.

I haven't broken the news about Santa to my DS. He just turned 10 and I know it has to come out soon, but I hate to be the one to tell him-although it would probably be better coming from me than one of the kids. I'm pretty sure he understands about the tooth fairy and Easter Bunny though.