I hate it.
Gift cards....I love 'em. Alan and I knocked out half my shopping yesterday in just a couple of hours.
Mades me smile.
And they are easy to wrap too.
I'm working on a Farm Side for Christmas Eve. How did those of you who have, or once had livestock, cope with little kids who can't wait and animals that come first?
We have our own stories of course, like the year that foolish Mrs. Santa left half the presents in the cluttered nightmare of a closet under the stairs and when the kids finally.....after all the cows were fed and milked and bedded and the barn cleaned.....opened their gifts and a lot was missing....but we would love to read yours as well.
Thanks!
I share your distaste for shopping, although I do love to buy from my friends and neighbors who own local stores in downtown Saratoga Springs, which I can walk to from my home three blocks away, rather than brave the congestion around the malls. Regarding Christmas morning, we didn't have to feed cows and clean stalls before gift opening, but we did make our kids go to mass before they could dive into the piles under the tree (we did let them open one gift). Only two of my four go to church anymore. I hope it wasn't the deprivations of Christmas mornings that soured them. Love the photo of Peggy near your pretty fireplace. So cozy!
ReplyDeleteI 'won't' Christmas shop. If it can't be had on Amazon . . or in the nice local store with local chocolates and wine . . . It will be those great gift cards.
ReplyDelete(Peggy is the cutest as she's enjoying the cozy fireplace :)
I haven't found anything that Amazon doesn't sell that my Christmas list wants.
ReplyDeleteThat fire looks a whole lot easier to tend ;)
ReplyDeleteI like gift cards and Amazon. Works well for me.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Jacqueline, I am so sorry i didn't start earlier with Internet shopping. I am getting Alan's gift online, but there is a blanket I wanted for Peggy....she has one that she loves to much it is an endless battle to get it away from her to wash it...and I finally found one on Amazon. I fear it is too late though. We too had to go to Mass, especially since my next younger brother was an alter boy. We often went to the midnight one and sometimes mom and dad let us open our gifts when we came home. Guess they wanted to sleep the next day. lol
ReplyDeleteCathy, I am with you. I usually try to buy stuff for people...tangible stuff. It is always HELL. Gift cards this year. Best part about the fireplace is that she is safe around it, as it is just Alan's TV with a DVD in it. Although there is an amazing mantel, both in this, which is our dining room, and on the other side of the wall, which is normally a second parlor, but which is now the kids' apartment....there is no actual fireplace on either side. Just heat registers from the furnace. someday I'll take a photo of the one in the old parlor. It looks as if it belongs in Versailles.
Jan, I hear you. I am giving the gift of music to at least one person this season
Nita, yeah, it does the trick without burning the house down lol
Linda, same here. Both to give and receive.
Oh Marianne, I do remember the blankie business with my kids, and woe to us all if the blankie couldn't be found at bedtime! My solution was to cut it into four pieces, so chances were good we could find a piece when needed. And a clean one, too! Kids didn't seem to mind that the blankie suddenly shrank. They just wanted a corner of it, anyway.
ReplyDeleteOh yes! I knew that was a digital fireplace :) As I survey our new big screen tv . . . and the 3 of us sitting around with our laptops . . . you can't help but to wonder what our not-too-distant ancestors would make of it all if they could walk in the door and observe our lives. I'll look forward to those parlor pictures.
ReplyDeleteCathy, sorry....I used to hate the darned thing when he left it on his room all night, but it is pretty cool down here. Where it is unplugged most of the time. lol
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of shopping either......at least I don't have much to do and can do it fairly locally. I'm surprised at the lack of people this year though....and NO Christmas music.
ReplyDelete