How Far Along Is Your Holiday Shopping?
 

Okay, Missjannas post made me think, how far along am I with my holiday shopping?

I realized, holy cow, I'm almost finished and it isn't Thanksgiving yet!

:-D

2 people down, 8 to go, and I will manage to kill off at least another 3 people this weekend....however going to NH over Thanksgiving and not having to pay Sales Tax is inviting, although from what I understand it's a crowded mess...

I bought two gifts for one person. ((G))
I cannot adjust to a warm holiday season, I feel like I have so much time until Christmas!!
I have to make a list...
Oh oh!! I did buy lovely Holiday cards~

I felt anxious as soon as I saw the title of this Post! Not one present has been purchased. Curses to being in a line of work that just gets busier as the holidays approach (all of them)! I must sit down with DH this weekend and make the list...how did I let this go again..?I swore this year would be different....sigh. :(

Funny you should ask GT I just started shopping this week...it's my favorite time of year to shop because it's one for them, two for me :-D One niece, 3 nephews down...miles to go! Normally, I try to buy gifts throughout the year, especially when traveling, but this year I failed miserably so I'm basically starting from scratch.

Scarlett, I felt the same way after moving to south TX...15 years later my body clock still gets confused at times :-? ...as do I :-D

I think subliminally I have been hoping that the Yankee would have a Brainstorm and take me away for the holidays...like Europe or India LOL

I have a new shopping strategy. Yesterday I went to the car wash to get my car washed - while there got my mother some car wash gift certificates. Then stopped to pick up pizza and salad - gift card there for someone else. Today while waiting for daughter to get her hair cut - I think you get the drift.

This works because I have no kids on my gift list (well, teenagers - but no toy store stops!) Wondering if anyone needs anything from supermarket, dry cleaner, hardware store - general goal is to avoid the mall!

I have most of Mr.R5's and family/friends goodies as I
<font color="blue">Detest</font>
(would say that with all caps, but it's too nice a day to &quot;shout&quot;) shopping malls(even more so this time of year).

I try to do all my shopping in my lovely small town downtown and the rest on-line.
He, OTOH, will delight in a last minute frenzy on or about the 23rd of Dec.
God bless him.
:-X
I wonder if most couples are different
in their purchasing habits??
R5

Scarlett, what a great idea! While your husband is asleep whisper sweet somethings into his ear, like...&quot;you are a studly man who wants to take his adoring wife overseas for the holidays&quot; ;)

gail, does this mean there will be holiday envelopes under your tree this year instead of holiday packages?

Every year on Christmas Eve when I'm running around in a mad panic to finish my shopping I swear it will be different the next year. Every year it is the same.

Until this year. I have no idea how I managed to be this far along this early.

I think our husbands all band together in the mall/stores the day before Christmas and shop together!!
It is a huge conspiracy !

Everyone I know has too much of everything already. This year I making a change. It isn't going to be stuff, and I just don't what it will be quite yet.

Just need gifts for spouse and a couple of gift cards. Wrapped everything I had on Wed. night 11/17. Reason? We see one family at Thanksgiving, one at Christmas -- so I need to have things ready by Thanksgiving anyway. And I enjoy shopping but not when everyone else is out.

JJ5, there are times I like to give the gift of trees...or food! :-)

I take my family of 10 (6 adults, 4 grandchildren) on a family trip. Usually at Christmas because it is getting more difficult to take the grandchildren out of school. My motive is to spend the money with them while I'm still around. I do buy the four grandchildren one present. Owa

It pays off to be Jewish :) All I get at this time of the year is some Chanukah money holders for 2-4 children, the quantity depends if my 2 sons have or don't have girlfriends.

Now cooking is a completely different story, but I love to have guests, and always cook from scratch. Will be making a list this weekend to feed all kind of dieters and picky eaters.

Shopping? Yikes! I went to the mall last weekend (without a list), wandered around aimlessly and left empty handed. I'm off to a fabulous start :)

No more waiting in the toy store line at 5 a.m. to get the lastest gadget for the kiddies. Although I do miss it!

We might just take a family ski trip over the holiday break instead but we'll figure that out over Thanksgiving.

Trees or foods! Huuuuuum! There are about 20 gifts I need just for immediate family members. But food might work. I've always given my DAD food from the European store. Things he had in his childhood.

One year I wrote everyone a letter with their gift. It was about 15 years ago and maybe it's time for another letter, plus some food. Good idea. I would love to take them all downtown (Chicago)
although we have too many varying schedules. But I think I may try to pull that off the Monday or Tuesday after Christmas. If that flies, I just may stick with sports equip. certificates or food specialty favorite, and their individual letter, only to be read by themselves.

Toys are a joke. My grandkids have their own electric cars,great bikes,computers, horses, and/or every American Girl doll thing they want. My 8 year old grandson has his own go cart and track. My ten year old granddaughter has been to three different birthday &quot;makeover&quot; parties in high end spas, just from girlfriends at school. Clothes are REALLY hard, and I won't go there. They've all grown so much that 2 are taller than I am. And I don't know what they know, what is in and what is not. I won't try to compete and don't want to. I try to give them experience instead. And some skills, like cooking. They are very, very lucky kids. An orange just doesn't do it anymore, let me tell you.

Although I normally love to shop, you could not pay me enough to go to a mall this time of year, lol!

I have bought for MIL who is in a nursing home, things to donate, and then a few stocking stuffers...but thats it so far. The worst part is that I have NO idea what to get several people!!!

Normally we do a trip over Christmas and take our stockings, and the stuff in the stockings are the only gifts exchanged. I thought the kids would be upset over the lack of big gifts, but not really.

This year is different though...we moved and so it is our first year in our new home and dh and the kids want to have Christmas here...gifts and all!

So...the whole family is getting new showshoes. Still need to order those.

Figure if I can make it through Thanksgiving then I can start to think about Christmas.

I had to smile when I saw Faina's post - in my case being Jewish doesn't get me off the Christmas-shopping hook. Three of my 4 kids married people who aren't Jewish, and my sweetie is the definitive WASP - so we do have a Christmas celebration complete with presents and a tree. I will admit to enjoying it enormously, but don't tell anybody. :) In terms of shopping, I still have a lot to do, but did manage to get my sweetie's present a couple of weeks ago. I wondered out loud where I was going to hide it once I got it home, and the salesman said &quot;Oh, just put it with your girly things - they never look in there!&quot; He was right. It's quite safe.

I have my shopping about 80 percent completed!!! Now to the wrapping........ Thank heavens for gift bags, the greatest invention since sliced bread! :-)

My shopping has been &quot;nadda.&quot; I can only shop by internet since there are really no stores here, so perhaps I will get on the ball with the few gifts I need to buy within the next week or so. Most of our family and friends have decided over the years that no one needs any more &quot;stuff,&quot; so we limit it to cards and well wishes. After all, it's the thought that counts, right?

DH and I are planning to buy each other a fence for our island property, though. :)

We buy things when we see them during the year and then hide them and then forget they're there and then go out and buy more things, so we're pretty far along . . . ;-)

Beginning with New York at Thanksgiving, then we have the time to pick a different outing each weekend until Christmas to stroll, eat, shop, whatever. We're in Philadelphia, so last weekend it was Haddonfield. This weekend it's Chestnut Hill. Next weekend maybe Princeton. It's become a nice tradition.

Holiday? What holiday? Its only...
holy cr*p, it's November.

Gotta run....got shopping to do.

Jersey, it's just not only November, it's nearing the END of November! That deserves a double cr*p!

Jersey-Thank goodness there is someone besides me who hasn't even started!! I am always a last minute shopper for the big gifts because I am waiting for that sales commission bonus check to come. It gets harder every year-my parents don't need anything. My daughters mostly want money but our family is big on having lots of presents under the tree even if they are just small things. I think buying the small gifts are often harder because you want to have special thought behind them. Oh well...guess I will brave the crowds tomorrow.

I have three adult children and they know I'll make their IRA/Roth IRA contributions for their Christmas gifts - BEST FOR ALL!!!
M

For those of you looking for meaningful gifts for people who have too much stuff, consider giving to a charity in that person's name. We use heifer.org to donate an animal or group of animals to communities around the world in need. You can give cows to provide milk, sheep to provide wool, chickens for eggs, etc. More info at

www.heifer.org

Happy Holidays everyone!

Christmas shopping!!!! Ha, I haven't even bought presents for my daughters birthday which is the day after Thanksgiving except for a couple of small presents.

Christmas shopping!!!! I haven't even purchased Christmas cards yet.

Until I read this thread I was feeling rather relaxed. Now I am a nervous wreck. LOL.

We're just going to go to Europe to travel about a bit with daughter who is studying in Germany. That's our gift.

I have not even begun!!
I hve 3 children, and 3 hefty tuitions due around the Holidays as well! Ughhhh.
I thought I might go today. I like giving Movie Theatre gift certificates to freinds/in-laws etc...Everyone loves the movies!

I have not yet begun (and hated you yesterday for starting this thread with such self-satisfaction) but saw this this morning online and thought of you. It would be my gift to you :))

http://www.alphabetsnyc.com/cgi-loca...f63+1108989709

Happy holiday! (~~)

Hey, I can make this a travel thread!

This year, instead of Christmas presents with co-workers, we're going out to dinner, and instead of Christmas presents for family, I'm renting them a ten bedroom house in Cape May NJ for Christmas week. No wrapping, no returns, nothing to try to find a spot for! (Okay, I'll buy some small prezzies for the young nieces and nephews, but they are just as happy or more so with the little stuff as with the latest $50 electronic gizmo that they play with for two days and then forget.)

Amy-What a great idea! Although all my relatives together in close quarters for a week in kind of scary.

I can't get in the shopping mood till the temperature drops and I see a few snowflakes.

Amy, what a great idea!
BTW, did you know that I am one of your cousins? twice removed? hee hee
Cape May is full of Victorian homes right? I think I remember hearing about their B&amp;B's being so charming.

I'm Done. Okay hate me. I have shopped the last two weeks, in stores, online, and from catalogs. I am done. Now, if I can remember what I got everyone. Every year I hate the pressure to get it done. So, I decided to shop early. My husband will be at the mall on Christmas eve buying me something.

Well howdy there, cuz Scarlett; y'all must be from the Southern branch we don't talk much about.(Unfortunately, we haven't actually got a Southern branch, but we do go to North Carolina occasionally!)

Cape May is quite quaint and Victorian; it's a lovely little town. There are some nice inns as well as the B&amp;B's. It should be nice, and there's enough room to spread out if we start to get a little tired of each other :) at any point.

I usually don't do much shopping until after Thanksgiving (gotta be in the mood, and gotta store the stuff somewhere 'til Christmas!) so I'm feeling ahead of the game...except I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 20 and still have sets of papers to mark and my Christmas card isn't made yet let alone addressed and I haven't even begun on the cookies and I'm starting my part-time floral designer work the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in addition to my full time job and the housekeeping....What AM I doing on a travel forum???

Amy, I'm the cousin you come to see in North Carolina, remember? :-d Count me in........... (We visited often when I used to live in South Jersey.......... :-) )

Now that I read this post you ruined my day thank you very much. I'm a guy and I hate shopping. :`( Does buying the silver Mercedes for myself that I've always wanted count? :-/

Well, I've been on this kick the last couple of years to make gifts, whether it be art or food, last year was a basket of homemade fudge, muffins, cookies and chocolate zuchini bread, this year I decided to can things..so my friend and I last weekend made homemade dills, bread and butters, orka, and asparagus..We'll test them on the 23rd so I still have time to bake if it tastes awful :-&amp;