I did most of my shopping online at Amazon this weekend, so most of it should be showing up starting tomorrow hopefully.  I only have a few things left to buy for my MIL and GMIL (grandmother-in-law) that Amazon was either out of stock or just didn’t even sell.  For those things I may actually have to venture out and go to an actual store to get!  *gasp*

I hate shopping in general.  Not so much when it comes to looking for craft stuff at places like Michael’s or Joann’s, since I can also just browse while I am there, but regular shopping, I really don’t like doing.  I don’t even like grocery shopping.

So online shopping is just for me, since I don’t have to drive somewhere, try one store and hope what I want is there, stand in line, drive to another store and hope what I want is there, stand in line again… Or if what I wanted to get was not at one store, find the next nearest one and try again.  Bleh.  It’s even worse if I end up needing to tow the Kiddo along with me, especially if it’s not a one-store trip.

We also still need to shop for the annual family Christmas Eve party.  Uusually we kind of do a “white elephant” type of thing, but this year the hosting family hit some money issues so we’re changing it up a bit and just buying the kids a $5 gift each so each family is only really contributing $15 each for the gifts, and then any food they’re bringing (pot luck).   Our assignment is drinks and desserts.  I’m thinking about making sugar cookies and having the Kiddo help me decorate them.  Since I have all week off next week and will be keeping her home from preschool, I think she’ll get a kick out of it.   I’ll probably make a couple other things too.  I made a pumpkin cheese cake dessert for Thanksgiving and it seemed well received so I may make that again and take it to the party.  And probably one other thing, although I am not sure just what yet.

Geeze.  Somehow even though I will have the days preceeding Christmas off it certainly doesn’t seem like I’ll be sitting around doing nothing… I’ll probably spend Monday doing the last minute gift shopping, then Tuesday (or even Wednesday too or instead, since the party isn’t until the evening) making the desserts for the party… Then Wednesday evening is the party, Thursday is Christmas… Friday will be recovery and I’m not sure what we’ll be doing Saturday and Sunday, if anything.  Maybe more recovery? LOL

At least I already got the Christmas lights up on the house on Saturday.  I used to put up the icicle lights but since it seemed like EVERYONE was doing those, I switched to a simple strand of green lights and on the porch a strand of lighted stars.  Simple, and since I bought one of those stretch poles I don’t need to use a ladder anymore, since I just use the nails I put up the first year to hold the strands that go over the garage.

Which reminds me… the next house we buy, the border over the garage is going to be straight across… no “peak” crap like now.  It was a PITA to use the stupid 10 ft ladder to put up those nails and lights the first couple of years.  And even with the stretch pole now, my neck ends up hurting.

Ooh,  a lightbulb just came on… THAT’s why my neck was hurting last night!! I totally forgot about the strain from putting up the lights with that pole and having to look straight up for 10-15 minutes straight…   Ladder… pole… I can’t decide which is worse anymore!  Probably the ladder, since I don’t like heights very much.  I’ll take a strained neck over height issues. LOL

Tags: Amazon, Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve Party, Desserts, Drinks, Family Christmas, Holiday Frenzy, Kiddo, Money Issues, Online Shopping, Pot Luck, Pumpkin Cheese Cake, Sugar Cookies, White Elephant