22 days to go!

I'm going to have to check back on this thread. I think I've somehow gotten a day behind.

21 days to go!

That's only 3 weeks folks. I hope you've got your shit together by now. ;)

nope - not even remotely close.

Okay, I will now endorse the holiday season. I'll start and finish shopping tomorrow.

I've ordered a couple of shipments from different websites for the kids, and have plenty more bookmarked that we're prioritizing and making sure we don't stumble on anything better. But I am stumped for Mr. Clod. I know what he wants: he wants a PS3. But he readily admits it's too expensive and won't get enough use. He still has unopened videogames for our existing systems (for the record, we have a PS2, a GameCube, two Playstations--one stock and one mod-chipped--two Gameboy SPs, and a Nintendo DS.) AND he just spent a bunch upgrading his PC so it could play Fallout 3. So no PS3, no freaking way. But I can't come up with anything else he wants, at all. We already skimp on presents for ourselves pretty viciously in favor of stuff for the kids, and we didn't even go out on our last anniversary. I need to get him something good, but I don't have any idea what.

Steak and BJ

I still haven't iced my christmas cake yet, but I finally picked up the last few bits and pieces I need for it yesterday, so I might get to it on Monday. Besides that, we're going to decorate the tree today, and then this arvy I'm going to wrap presents. :)

It's all very exciting really. Specially since there's only...

20 days to go!

Ooops...I missed a day! you know what that means right???

18 days to go!

Sorry about that folks. I guess life does get in the way sometimes. :)

17 days to go!

That's not long.

Are you organized yet Classic? lol

Not in the least. eek!

Still don't have any idea what to get the FIL. Everyone else is covered, as far as I know.

16 days to go!

Glad to see there's at least one dwellar who's got things sorted. I recommend a gift certificate for the FIL. That's always a good fall back when you really can't think of anything good. At least that way he can go get himself whatever he likes from his fav store. :)

Yeabbut, he still gets us gift certificates, along with "real" gifts. He's retired, we both work, but he still feels like "Dad has to provide" or something.

So a merely reciprocal gift certificate wouldn't really fit, I think.

ETA: Badger is thinking of getting him a hammer drill, whatever that is. :confused:

Also known as a masonry drill. If you want to drill into concrete or bricks for example. It hammers while it drills. ;)

I regret not getting one when I purchased a drill a while ago. I really should have. It'd be much more useful.

15 days to go!

That's just two weeks to finish all your shopping and get all your preparations organized.

Not long now folks!

Parents and in laws are taken care of now. Just gotta buy for kids, husband and niece.

14 days to go!

Yep, we're down to the last two weeks (including today)!

I wrapped all my pressies yesterday and will get the last couple of little ones today then I'm all done.

Next week is cake icing and sweets week! Yehaa. That should be fun. :)

I started wrapping today. But I'm not going any further until I have proof the toddler can leave the presents under the tree without tearing into them. (If not, I'll have to come up with another place to stick them all until Christmas.)

Right now the big item on my to-do list is make all the necessary phone calls to organize which side of the family is coming to my house when. But I can't, because then they'll ask me what food they should bring, and I won't have a good answer because I have no plan about what to serve yet. I hate organizing social events.

I love organizing that sort of stuff. Give me the numbers. I'll do it for you Clod. ;)

ETA: When my boys were that age, we didn't put the presents out till Christmas Eve when they were in bed. That way it helped us keep up the Santa myth. It really worked too because I'd get the kids to leave cookies and milk for santa and a carrot for rudolph along with a card. In the morning the cookies would be gone along with the milk, and the carrot would be mostly eaten (by me of course, rudolph doesn't really exist) and there'd be a card for them from Santa.

I swear they loved it and it made their day so special.

Wha wha what? No Rudolph????

Yes, it's true. Santa has been lying to you this whole time. The real Rudolph died decades ago, and he just keeps replacing him with a new reindeer that looks the same. Just like Lassie. Santa is a lying bastard, is what I'm trying to say.

Whaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh

-sniffles- No... no Rudolph? He's... are you... My Christmas is now RUINED :(

There IS a Rudolph* - she was here visiting not too long ago.


*Rudolph happens to be the last name of a friend of mine. This time of year she gets the "Where's your red nose?" bit quite often. Swears she can't fly, too.

12 days to go!

Yep, I've definitely lost/added a day somewhere. Sorry to those of you already panicking, but now you have even less time to get your shit together. :)

11 days to go!

We're making rumballs today. Yummy. :) Might get around to making coconut ice too or chocolate fudge.

ok ok, I actually spent a couple hours today - got the tree, got it up and the lights on, got all my kids done and decorated the house some more. The impending year and the financial negativity that is coming has sucked a lot of the merriment outta me.

The house looks nice and smells wonderful. Perhaps I'm starting to warm up to it a bit.

It's about time Scrooge. ;)

GAH!! Okay okay, Trea, don't panic, it's still more than a week away... presents? Check. Wrapped? Damn, nope. Tree? Fuggit, gotta get Ted to lug it out of the cabin, and there's no ornaments for it. Cooking? Screw that, we're going to be out of town. OH, damn, I forgot to get the animals Christmas presents. I KNEW I was forgetting something.

That's cool. Venison steak and a

10 days to go!

The rumballs are good. Finally doing my cake today and hopefully getting the fudge and coconut ice done. Maybe even the white christmas.

We'll see, but I'm finally getting there anyway. :)

See, I told you all I wasn't starting too early!

9 days to go!

I've finished my sweets now and put the first layer of icing on my cake.

Today I will make a start on the top layer which will (hopefully) be the pretty layer. :)

Oh...I finished the last of my wrapping yesterday too. I think I'm almost ready.

No further progress till the weekend. I'm so far behind I think I'm ahead.

How do you get in the Christmas Spirit when it's the middle of summer?

I guess when it's what you're brought up with it's summer that brings on the Christmas spirit. It seems a bit weird to consider snow and cold at Christmas to be honest.

It's just different. :)

Does your Santa arrive on a surf board pulled by sharks, then?

Which leads me to something else ... if you don't have Thanksgiving, how do you know when it's time to put up the Christmas Decorations?

It's time when it feels like it's time. Usually some time around the begining of December.

Santa comes on a sleigh pulled by the six white boomers.

Thank you. I love Rolf Harris. He used to get some airplay on Dr. Demento.

Looks like the boomers are stronger than reindeer. It takes eight of them (nine if it's foggy) to get the job done.

You're welcome. :)

7 days to go!

Yes it's all very confusing, but I was right the first time so...sorry guys, you lot have just lost that day you gained for a few there. ;) (I think I was looking at the date on the non-logged in screen or something which comes up with the US date not the Australian so if you want, you can just add a day for yourselves to my Australian countdown...which is really where it all starts anyway. :) )

Today I'm doing some more of my Christmas cake. I think I might even post a couple of pics later if anyone wants to see. :)

6 days to go!

Finished the cake yesterday!

Today my ham arrives, as does my turkey. I guess i'd better make some space in the fridge!

How are you going with your arrangements now?

There are no arrangements.

5 days to go!

My ham arrived yesterday. It looks and smells delicious! So did my turkey.

What the hell? All along you've been reassuring me that there are 60 days to go to Christmas. Now I find out it is less than a week? Lure me into a false sense of security, damnit. Lucky I checked in here.

Yes, very bloody lucky huh? Specially since now there's only...

4 days to go!

So I went shopping today and was in the hardware store looking for other things when I found these awesome rechargeable spotlight torches, 2,000,000 candle power. I figured my brother would love one, if only to fool around with. I already had planned a present for him but this was perfect.
I bought it ($10 super clearance special cause they don't stock them anymore), brought it home and figured that I should give it to him fully charged, so I plugged it in. Then I tested it.

Problem.

I want it.

Damn.

They've probably sold out.

Damn.

I could get him the original planned present.
What to do, what to do...

Just keep it. lol He'll never know unless you tell him, and besides, next time he comes over you can let him play with it at your house. ;)

3 days to go!

Cards posted to nearest and dearest today.
Presents wrapped for husband yesterday (we opened ours this morning, the first of three family Christmasses we're involved in); for my mother and his relatives this evening; for the rest of my family on Christmas day I expect.
The whole dinner thang requires another thread - suffice to say that this year I'm managing to do the turkey backwards (:blush: ) i.e. soup earlier this week, cold turkey on Boxing Day and hot roas turkey on 28th December.

2 days to go!

Yehaaa! Only two sleeps to go!

And guess what? I've made a brilliant start on the babys room during the break too. I'll post pics of that somewhere else soon. :)

:xmashat: :gift: 1 DAY TO GO!!!! :xmashat: :gift:

It's so exciting! My ham is in the oven baking with it's coating of cloves and red currant jelly. Mmmmmmm...Smells delicious! I will stuff my turkey next in readiness for tomorrow morning. The gifts are all under the tree and soon the mad house cleaning will begin. :)

Oh I do love a merry Christmas!

*goes shopping*

The link you need....

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html

Ugh...I'm with zen...up at 8am...to go out and hand out some shoves and elbows to masses of people, for the people I love.

One left to get and I found where it is. I will attack this last task with all the excitement I can muster. Then its on to bake cookies, finish wrapping, clean the house and whatever else I forgot to do before heading into the glory that is Christmas.
I have kept my budget and hope the offspring understand. (nervous)

:hugnkiss: MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL! :hugnkiss: