Tree Trimming and Shopping Time

We have been wrapping up the decorating and shopping today. Joe did not go out hunting this morning so we took advantage of having him home and did some shopping with the little boys. They did all of their shopping for their brothers today. They already had their shopping for cousins and school done just after Thanksgiving. We decorated the tree today while Joe and all the boys were home, too. It really turned out nice and I don't think I did much at all to help. Joe took charge of putting the lights on. We skipped putting garland on the tree, and Richard took charge of the boys putting on the ornaments. The boys also enjoyed peanut butter cookies baked by Rick and eggnog.




Tonight's countdown surprise was the collection called, "Christmas Stories and Poems". It has a definite Old English influence.

Black Friday

My shopping experience for this year's Christmas list has been totally different than in the past. I am just shy of reaching my halfway mark with my budget, but I have only made one in store purchase. That was a bargain at $10 off what I had priced in other stores and online, and the purchase was relatively effortless as it was right on a shelf in the aisle I was in as I was doing my weekly shopping. I have already bought several of the major gifts for everyone, but I have done most of that on-line. Now I just have a moderate list of little things and clothes for several of the kids on my list and then I will be done. My goal to be finished shopping is December 6th and I want all my wrapping finished by December 14th. Since I am ordering several things on-line and through catalogs, sometimes it takes a bit of time for all the items to get in, so Monday is my goal to be finished with online and catalog ordering.

This year my budget was a bit different than in the past. I have had a budgeted amount for Christmas shopping set aside each year. I save from January through October and that is what I use for all of my Christmas purchases. This year, I broke it down to how much I was going to spend for each person on my list and tried to even the amounts I was spending for my kids and then with the cousins, and then gifts for work and school. I still have a way to go, but I hope that I can meet my goals with shopping and wrapping so I can enjoy my weekends and the first five days of my break.

The Thanksgiving decorations are still up. I will probably leave them up until Sunday, and start decorating for Christmas then. I think we will go to get the tree Wednesday or Thursday and get the house decorated by this weekend.