Christmas shopping. Done.

[Hot Dogger]

Our HOA has a holiday market each year where I can get most of my gifts. I got a birdhouse decorated with the Chicago Cubs logo for my brother in law, he's a schmo. Then I got a bunch of jams and jellies, some quarts of local honey, some local grown dried mushrooms (not the magic kind), and some knit wool caps. Today I went out and bought a new can opener (Oxo Good Grips) and picked up an extra one to give as a gift. I'll stop by the Amish country store next week and pick up some more gifts, they have great stuff like pickled mushrooms (also not the magic kind), homemade pies, and good dried noodles.

All my nieces and nephews will get $50, my oldest brother (who was on the USS Forest Fire) will get $100 since he lives in a nursing home. I never buy clothes or major items for gifts, I give food, money, and trinkets like can openers and pocket knives. Although I did give out really nice bathrobes last year, but they're one-size fits all, so if they didn't fit that's too bad, it can't be returned because they only come in one size, and I bought them online from a wholesaler, so no returns or exchanges.

Next year, I think I'll give out cases of canned pineapple from the Dollar Tree, I might even be able to have them drop shipped. And my family won't even need a can opener, they come in easy open cans. This is really great, I got this years shopping wrapped up and next years is in the bag. I hope everyone here gets their Christmas wishes answered.

[Abbey Marie]

It sounds like you are really organized and practical and know exactly what you want to gift everyone. I admire that.

I tend to be more of an impulse shopper. Any time of year if I see something that seems perfect for someone on my list, I’ll pick it up. The downsides are eventually it’s hard to get in my closet past the gifts, it’s possible the person will buy the same thing for themselves before Christmas, and every once in a while I forget I have a gift and find it next Spring, lol.

And this reminds me that Jim (the board owner and an all-around great guy, btw) posted pics of his tree, and I promised to do the same.

[jimnyc]

Amazon and giftcards .com!! All done in less than an hour.

I made a list this year of everyone I wanted to be nice to. My list isn't too big.

After writing and crossing out and writing and crossing out.... Everyone is getting various gift cards, the lazy way out!! I got tins filled with $50 Amazon cards, then made a few $50 cards personalized with Nikoh's picture on them! My muslim friend got a beautiful Happy Birthday, Jesus gift card!! If he wants the $$. He and I get along in that manner, so he'll laugh at it. Dad got $100 for Best Buy as he's a bigger gadget electronics geek than I am! My step mom got $100 Visa. And a few more goofy ones with pics on them. Now I gotta see who's cool for the holidays and who I actually give them too! Ignore me for Christmas and don't show up - and Jim has a few extra bucks after the holidays! LOL

But I did in fact do the thoughtful thing with my wife and got her something nice and girly. But I can't take a chance and share as she reads here sometimes!

[jimnyc]

It sounds like you are really organized and practical and know exactly what you want to gift everyone. I admire that.

I tend to be more of an impulse shopper. Any time of year if I see something that seems perfect for someone on my list, I’ll pick it up. The downsides are eventually it’s hard to get in my closet past the gifts, it’s possible the person will buy the same thing for themselves before Christmas, and every once in a while I forget I have a gift and find it next Spring, lol.

And this his reminds me that Jim (the board owner and an all-around great guy, btw) posted pics of his tree, and I promised to do the same.

Oh that reminds me, gotta put up my new Steelers ornaments today and grab a few more pictures. Gotta get them before the tree keeps magically shrinking too! I put like 36 candy canes on there and I notice one of the "brands" I put up there is about gone. And it isn't the animals - unless some are like me and like to refer to the offspring as such.

And I've been running XM radio in the background for like a week now on the various Christmas channels, trying to get into the spirit! But man, it's tough around here, in New York I mean. No music, very little decorations around on homes, just doesn't feel the same as it did when I was growing up. I think it's more me than the world around me, dunno.

[Hot Dogger]

Oh that reminds me, gotta put up my new Steelers ornaments today and grab a few more pictures....

Speaking of Steelers, Terry Bradshaw was out here earlier this year, he made a proposal to purchase our HOA's equestrian riding center, it's been a money losing bugaboo forever. I understand he wanted to turn it around, get all his rich friends to come out and raise horses, but the HOA board turned him down.

[jimnyc]

Speaking of Steelers, Terry Bradshaw was out here earlier this year, he made a proposal to purchase our HOA's equestrian riding center, it's been a money losing bugaboo forever. I understand he wanted to turn it around, get all his rich friends to come out and raise horses, but the HOA board turned him down.

I honestly don't know a ton about his personal life, but I do know where he lives is basically a farm and he has quite a few horses, so not surprising!

[Gunny]

Shopping has BEEN done. Wrapping? Not so much

[Hot Dogger]

I don't wrap presents, I put them all on the table and the family picks what they want when it's their turn to open a gift (we do a sort of round robin). Some folks may argue over something, so they conduct trade negotiations, which I feel is a valuable skill to learn, so it's like a double gift.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Our HOA has a holiday market each year where I can get most of my gifts. I got a birdhouse decorated with the Chicago Cubs logo for my brother in law, he's a schmo. Then I got a bunch of jams and jellies, some quarts of local honey, some local grown dried mushrooms (not the magic kind), and some knit wool caps. Today I went out and bought a new can opener (Oxo Good Grips) and picked up an extra one to give as a gift. I'll stop by the Amish country store next week and pick up some more gifts, they have great stuff like pickled mushrooms (also not the magic kind), homemade pies, and good dried noodles.

All my nieces and nephews will get $50, my oldest brother (who was on the USS Forest Fire) will get $100 since he lives in a nursing home. I never buy clothes or major items for gifts, I give food, money, and trinkets like can openers and pocket knives. Although I did give out really nice bathrobes last year, but they're one-size fits all, so if they didn't fit that's too bad, it can't be returned because they only come in one size, and I bought them online from a wholesaler, so no returns or exchanges.

Next year, I think I'll give out cases of canned pineapple from the Dollar Tree, I might even be able to have them drop shipped. And my family won't even need a can opener, they come in easy open cans. This is really great, I got this years shopping wrapped up and next years is in the bag. I hope everyone here gets their Christmas wishes answered.

Lots of Amish around here in Podunk, WI too. When I drive the backroads, and even some highways, you always have to watch out for the Amish and they're horse drawn buggies, big here in WI. Lots of Amish at auctions I go to too.

[NightTrain]

Welcome to DP, Hot Dogger!

Our Christmas shopping was done in one day. That's a first. Sharon got a 40% discount that she noticed on her receipt a few weeks ago, good for the 12th - 14th, and you can't pass that up.

So we went into the store and had 2 overflowing carts by the time we were done. There was a mishap when the clerk tried to give $300 off on $2k - that math didn't work for me, so Shar patiently sat there for over an hour until they came up with about $800 in discounts.

Turns out that no one else noticed that huge discount on the bottom of their receipt for the last month and even the store personnel were unfamiliar with the deal, so it took a bit of time to work through it.

So, yeah! First time in my 48 years that Christmas was taken care of beforehand instead of my usual Christmas Eve blitzkrieg. This is pretty nice and stress-free!

Oh, and I'll post vid of Sharon's gift I bought on Amazon a couple weeks ago. I think she'll even squee.