So - for those who celebrate - how is everyone's Christmas prep going?

[hornblower]

4 hours ago, Margaret in CO said:

And the kids just invited 3 more people!.

 

Everyone is going to your place this year! 

[hornblower]

We got our tree up this afternoon and so far naughty pup has not tried to destroy it, so that's a very good thing.  She constantly chews at our hedges outside and has 'pruned' many a  tree in the garden so I was all set to put the xpen around the tree right away but she's been good about leaving it mostly alone. My old senile dog otoh has somehow got it into his head that it's where he should go and wipe his muzzle after eating. He crawled in and was shaking the whole thing trying to rub up against a branch.  I'll try to post a picture of it in the xmas tree thread tomorrow. 

And our main sewage drain pipe sprung a leak - which is not really surprising because it's been sprouting leaks at regular intervals for over a year. Dh just keeps patching it because we haven't had the time or energy to do the big job of just replacing that whole length.... So he patched it again and hopefully it holds for a few more weeks. 

Amazon came to the rescue and I found some things which they promise will arrive on Monday so I'm almost done shopping. Dd is baking and cooking up tons. She did it all last year as I was fresh from cancer surgery then and this year she just said she'd mostly do the same things so I've happily handed off most of the dishes and prep to her, even though this year I don't really have as good an excuse. I think she realized that we'd be having salad and a smoothie if things were left to me. 

[SKL]

I believe I have all the gifts I need, other than some Amazon gift cards and maybe a few gap fillers.  I am trying not to go overboard.

We did a wee bit of decorating on Friday night, so it doesn't feel like Grinch City over here any more.

But I had planned on getting a lot of things done today, which I did not.  I was out until 3:30 for the kids' activities and then I gut sucked into going shopping for the rest of the day.  I didn't need anything.  I did buy a $10 wallet for my dad on impulse.

Sunday I will go to my parent's after church.  I have not prepared the extended family gifts that I need to take.  (Not planning to wrap, just pack them in gift bags and label them.)  I also had a lot of work I wanted to do this weekend.  Ugh.

Debating whether I should try to get up early to do those gifts or just delay my visit tomorrow ....

And I don't have a Christmas photo of the kids.  Do I wait and try to take a photo tomorrow, cobble together a couple photos from earlier in the year, send Xmas cards without photos, or just screw the Xmas cards this year?

I need to do all the laundry and pack for our 2-week trip which begins on Christmas morning.  Also need to do some other things necessary when leaving home for so long and being out of town at year end.  Dispose of or freeze perishables, stop the mail, pay bills sooner etc.

And I need to wrap my kids' presents.

The kids want to have friends over on Monday, and also to put together a gingerbread house.  If they are going to have guests, the house needs cleaned.  I kinda hope nobody can make it here on Monday.

I want to go to church on Christmas Eve.  Not sure we can swing it.

[Pippen]

Work went through Friday and I'm feeling overwhelmed. 

The tree is up. It's not my usual glass ornaments, as the cat has taken to scampering up the center of the tree. This is my first year with all of my previous generations gone, and I couldn't handle the prospect of losing treasured ornaments.

I planned yesterday for cleaning, shopping and some baking and it wound up being mostly shopping.  We've had so many stores close that it's hard to much last minute. 

I got the roast in the oven to cook overnight and then I think got hit by the stomach bug that's going around.  I feel better this morning. 

Christmas will happen as it always does. But it's definitely not going to look calm and magical around here!

 

 

[HS Mom in NC]

Every year I'm reminded how much I hate wrapping presents. I think 2019 just might be the year I make those simple reusable fabric gift bags.  Note to self: Pay attention to the Christmas fabric sales next week. I should think about it because the other option is buying pretty paper gift bags, which is tempting, but I really want to do the fabric ones so they can be used really long term.

[hornblower]

8 hours ago, SKL said:

 

And I don't have a Christmas photo of the kids.  Do I wait and try to take a photo tomorrow, cobble together a couple photos from earlier in the year, send Xmas cards without photos, or just screw the Xmas cards this year? 

 

Fwiw, I would  just take a photo sometime in the next few days - when you're having fun.  Do it mostly for yourself and your own memories; and if you have time later in the to email it to some people or post on social media or print out and snail mail to a close relative for a Happy New Year greeting then that would be a bonus. 

[PeachyDoodle]

I am allllllmost done! Presents are wrapped and under the tree, except for one tiny thing that came in last night, which I wasn't expecting to arrive before Christmas. Of course, I've already lugged all the Christmas wrapping supplies back to the basement, so this one might get stuffed in a bag and called good! I spent most of last week baking -- orange-cranberry bread, oatmeal cookies, sugar cookies (gross, but the kids like decorating them), sausage balls, and dd made peanut brittle. I always bake way too much junk, but this is literally the one time a year I can be coerced into baking anything, unless cheese toast counts, so I guess it evens out.

The book I pre-ordered for dd is supposed to arrive tomorrow. The release date was supposed to be Wednesday, but it shipped early. She is going to be so impressed with Santa (ok, Amazon) on Christmas morning!

We are headed to church in about 30 minutes, then back home to do some cleaning and meal prep for our big Christmas morning breakfast. We're expecting 14 people this year! It has turned into such a lovely tradition, and I hope it carries on at least until the kids are grown. However, I was positively embarrassed by the amount of sausage I had on the conveyor belt at Publix... 😳

If I play my cards right, I MIGHT get to chill tomorrow morning before the festivities begin in the late afternoon. Fingers crossed!

[gardenmom5]

I still have stuff to wrap. and still have some boxes coming (dudeling actually asked for something.   "ma kickboards".   that after he kicked a corkboard to death to vent his frustration.  - so supposed to be delivered today.)

I'm not going to sweat what doesn't get done - my health isn't the greatest.   but I think the trend is up.

1dsil asked to come for christmas. fine. both of her sons live here, but she wont' be spending it with either of them.  

[Sneezyone]

Everything is wrapped and under the tree save DHs private gift from me. Stocking stuffers are hidden. Most dinner ingredients are purchased but I still need drinks, cream cheese, onion and bacon. A quick trip to Aldi in the am should work for those. This is about as stress free as I’ve been in a while. It’s nice.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I feel like such a slacker.  Dh and K got their Christmas presents early (new phones to replace their old ones which were on their last legs.)  I have dd's gift, but not wrapped.  But no gift for ds25.  And he has no ideas.  We wanted to get him new luggage, but he will have to pay a baggage fee for his flight home.  Although we don't usually exchange gifts with my brother and his family, I feel like I should have something small.  I don't have anything for dh's family.  We usually only get something small for for his brother and wife and gift cards for their children.  

We put our tree up today.  I have 3-4 boxes of paper to go through so that things will fit in the files.  And lots of straightening.  The house is clean.  Just a quick wipe down of the bathrooms and some sweeping.  

I think we have purchased most of the food (or, should I say "ingredients to make food").  I have dough for roski cookies in the fridge.  They need to be rolled out and assembled.  I need to make the Andes mint cookies.  I haven't started those.  I need to make a salad for tomorrow's dinner as well as appetizers.  My brother and his family arranged for Portillo's to be delivered to our house.    I haven't made any pies or main dishes for Christmas day.  Nor have I done any prep to make anything special for Christmas morning.  I usually make Quiver's rolls or waffles.  But I'd need to grind some grain to make the rolls.  

Just typing this out is making me want to hyperventilate.  

Merry Christmas to you all!  

[EMS83]

As expected--90% finished and may stay that way.  🙂

[happi duck]

I love sending Christmas cards so even though I put it off too long I still did them!  I finished at 4am and they'll get mailed Monday.

I also grocery shopped today!

[math teacher]

Well, so far only one kitchen mishap that I know of-my toffee is sticking to our teeth. I think I didn't cook it long enough. I need to make the lasagna. The marinara is made and in the car trunk because I didn't have room in the fridge. Need to boil the pasta and cook the meat, then assemble. I am making two, so it will be quite the production with all the layers. Green beans and corn are ready, just need to be warmed.

We always have cheese grits and shrimp on Christmas day, and I forgot to buy the ingredients for it. So that means a stop today before the stores close.

[EMS83]

Cheese grits and shrimp sounds so amazing...

[SKL]

Got through the extended family gifts / celebration and handing off the pets to their babysitter.

I'm about halfway done with the laundry.

Finished several errands today, including halting mail while we are out of town.

Just remembered I need to pay my speeding ticket before I leave.  😕

[BlsdMama]

On 12/21/2018 at 5:19 PM, hornblower said:

I'm so far behind it's getting ridiculous. 

We lost power yesterday for over 8h. No baking, no laundry, no cleaning - myself, dd & ds had all these house & meal prep things planned & we could do none of them. We played Carcassonne by candlelight instead, which was fun. And even more bonus, due to the wind storm that knocked out the power, there are tons of evergreen branches down with which to decorate. 

I have a uti (because that's always fun for holidays, right?). I finally started antibiotics today but I've been kind of moping along at half the energy for days because I thought it would clear up with home remedies. Ha. 

& not only do I not have presents bought yet - I don't even really have a list of presents yet.  I'll be one of those people stumbling around a mall on Monday. We only do a few small things but they're supposed to be nice and meaningful & I'm not sure how I'll pull that off when I have no ideas, no time to order online and no energy to really explore a mall. 

How's everyone else doing? 

 

 

Finished sewing and wrapping at 6:30 am.... started sewing around 10:30pm. The aprons turned out great. 🤦‍♀️ 

[hornblower]

Our Christmas Eve went wonderfully and I only needed to stay up till 1 to finish wrapping for this morning. Nobody got up too early today so it's been fine. We have nothing that needs doing today & we're eating whatever we heat up from last night.  

Edited December 28, 2018 by hornblower

[hornblower]

omg I'm huge. Sorry, that was meant to be a warm friendly face not a terrifying huge face looming out of your screens 🤣

[EMS83]

Sleepy day, until I took a nap around 3:30.  Then I was fine.  😄   Nah it was nice; I talked a good bit with SIL, which I really enjoyed and hopefully she did as well.