48 more days

Wow! 48 more days till Christmas Day! Actually, though, Christmas starts here the day after Thanksgiving. Since we will be in GA. with Mom that day, it will start at our home Sunday after Thanksgiving! I love to get down my zillions of boxes of Christmas decorations and start decorating. Zillions is probably a slight exaggeration but not much...just ask my box totters. They will tell you I've got alot.

The panicky, I've got to get busy feeling is slowly subsiding. I've gotten busy and made almost everything that needs to get made. We have been on a number of shopping trips and found some goodies. I have hit the big "let's get rid of this halloween candy and put out the christmas candy sales". (Come on, they are just wrapped in different colored foil...my kids won't complain! They will inhale) So the Christmas Stocking Stuffers are pretty much complete. But, now my closet looks like a war zone!

Tonight we are going on a family date night and seeing the new Disney 3D "A Christmas Carol" and out to eat dinner. It will be fun, we really like the 3D movies at the theme parks. And we will probably take some of that candy I just bought! Going to the movies is not a frugal activity and when the popcorn cost more than the movie ticket...there is just something wrong with that!

Tomorrow, we are going to our dr.'s office to help separate and pack pills for our Honduras Mission Trip in Jan. They are going to ship everything down early, since the airlines now charge for each suitcase you take. I think there are 236,000 pills to get done tomorrow! I've never done this, so it should be a challenge. We will also need to discuss all of our cooking utensils. We've always taken them before but with the airline charges, it will probably be cheaper to buy new ones down there and store them at the farm there. Then we can just use the same ones every year. I know that will be easier than toting those large rubbermaid containers into and out of the airport! Gotta work on the menu's too!

The picture at the top is our house during the snow last year (2 weeks before Christmas)! It was pretty while it lasted. We don't get much snow here in Miss.!
And, when you build a snowman (or 2) in your backyard beside the pool, they need the proper clothing...straw hat and sunglasses or life jacket and goggles! I have got some creative children! And a backyard with alot of leaves! They just helped hold the snow together!

60 Days

Wow! Its just 60 days till Christmas. I am already getting that "panicky, I am not ready" feeling in the pit of my tummy.

These months are so busy for us with homeschool, dance classes, church activities and just life! We also took a week off from reality and went to Disney.

Now, we have found out that my Mom is going to have knee replacement surgery. The kids and I will be packing up the schoolbooks and probably sewing machine (gotta work on gifts) and going to GA to help nurse! She was wanting to wait till the beginning of Feb. for the surgery but its just not going to work, knees have a mind of their own sometimes.

I know that everything will get done in the next 2 months and if it doesn't I am the only one who will ever know.

Its beginning to look alot like Christmas....everywhere you go.....well at least at Hobby Lobby!

CHRISTMAS is coming!

Wow, have you checked the sidebar...100 days left till Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have you done anything yet for the Holidays...made a list, figured out a budget, stashed stuff away, secret surprises, looked at ornaments at Hobby Lobby, started on crafts, bought stocking stuffers, anything at all?

I have done all of the above but since my family reads this blog I can't give any details!

Its time! I enjoy Christmas too much to wait until Dec. to start planning and buying. I save so much money buying throughout the year.

The day before Thanksgiving or Thanks. morning, we will have the boys putting lights on the house and bushes. The weekend after Thanksgiving its time to deck the halls, mantel, tree, kitchen and even bathrooms! Have I mentioned I love Christmas?

And to further add to the fun and festivities of the season, our 3 oldest sons have Dec. birthdays! James will be 26 on the 18th and Rob & Andy will be 22 on the 22nd. So we will have birthday dinners and special desserts during Christmas week for their birthdays also!

the end of July

The end of July brings many mixed feelings. It is our end of Christmas in July. I have more movies than month, so that just doesn't seem right. But we had fun watching all the old movies. Yesterday we watched "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby & Danny Kaye. Why don't they make singers like that anymore? Man, Bing could sing! We've also watched Home Alone 1,2,&3, Santa Clause 2 (can't find 1), the Christmas Story, Peanuts Christmas, Jingle all the Way, Flintstones Christmas, Here comes Santa Claus, Jetson's Christmas, Little House on the Prairie - 2 different Christmas episodes, Frosty the Snowman and the animated Grinch. I am not sure what is on the viewing list for tomorrow, but it will be good. Still need to see Rudolf and Muppet Christmas Carol. I have collected these for 25 years, so we have alot!

It is also the end of our vacation from school. we have done alot of planning this week and written most of it down. Some lessons are planned till the Tues. before Thanksgiving. This is a first for me. We did this over 3 mornings and spread the school books out and got it done. Yeah, for us. I say us, because the kids sat and helped me with everything. We have also tried to schedule out our days which is proving to be a bit more difficult than I imagined. We have different schedules for a couple of days, which don't fit into the norm. Still figuring that out.

We are going to try our hand at making sweet pickle relish this weekend. My cucumbers are producing great quantities and they are going to turn into relish. One of them weighs 1 3/4 pounds! This is a further attempt at exorcising High Fructose Corn Syrup from our lives. I have found some organic relish that we like, but our one organic store here doesn't carry it. So, we are trying to learn a new skill.

Before the torrential rain hit today, we pulled up the green bean plants in one of our square foot gardening boxes. They were not at all productive. We replanted with more bean seeds. Then the deluge hit. Hopefully all the seeds didn't wash to one end of the box. I would still like to grow enough beans to can and eat through the winter. But, if not, I will buy them at the Farmers Market and can them. They are locally grown and will be better than anything else I can buy at the grocery over the winter. We went and bought some today and had them for dinner tonight...yummy!

Time for reading and bedtime. Tomorrow is another day!

Christmas

See the side bar...275 days till Christmas...are you ready? Do you know who you need to buy or make gifts for? Do you have a budget or a Christmas Savings Plan? Do you already have any gifts purchased for Christmas 2009? If so, don't forget where you stash your gifts.

We shop all year long. We have purchased gifts for 5 nephews and 2 neices (and I know where they are). We know what we are doing for all the grandparents and aunts and uncles.

I don't have a clue what I am doing for Greg. And we have no idea what we are doing for our 7 blessings. We will have to wait on the kids till closer to the season...they have been known to change their minds. Katie and Amy always want a bag full of girlie stuff: nail polish, bubble bath, scented bath gel and lotion, cutesy pens and pencils, note pads, etc. So I look for these all year long.

I have also figured out what I am giving my neices and nephews for their birthdays for the rest of the year.

Have you panicked yet? You really don't need to. I usually plan for the next Christmas on Dec. 26, but thats just me. I don't like leaving things till the last minute. And I would much rather spend December decorating gingerbread houses or watching Christmas videos with my kids than shopping and standing in line for the month. Not to mention being involved with our church's Christmas program.

I love the holidays and everything about them...music, decorations, lights, cards, food, movies, and my snowman sweaters! And all our children are here to visit.