Organised Christmas 2008.. The countdown has begun!

findingmyfeet

progress so far :
1. outside downstairs windows-done
2.clean one kitchen cupboard
3. wrap at least 2 gifts
4. clear dead tomatoes etc out of greenhouse
5. clean oven (hate this)-done thank goodness
6. clean microwave-done
7.buy wax (ready for waxing furniture- next weeks list)
8. buy more gifts-bought another 3
9.update all lists (xmas food/pressies etc so i know what i still need)-done
10. wash all bedding-done
11. throttle or divorce hubby for hiding my xmas dvds and refusing to tell me where they are!!!!!! ( he said i had to wait until november to start watching them , last night i really fancied one and they had disappeared.)sorted him!!!!

also cupboard of doom done, washed advent calendar. Calendar i made when my kids where tiny , quilted creation with 24 pockets, a xmas scene of teddies having a lovely time, each year i suggest not having it up and each year my dd has screaming abdabs and makes me put it up. she says it now traditional, i put sweets, chocs, coins etc in it and have a few extras in there for the nieces and nephews . Dont know whats going in there this time. ANY SUGGESTIONS????? could do with a change. ( for 2 teenagers and hubby)

not doing too bad, off this afternoon so more will be done.
expecting dd main xmas pressie to be delivered this afternoon so getting excited. got to have it hidden before 4pm . see you later

findingmyfeet

thanks pinkladymel- like i said she does nothing much but work, but shes so serious at times. some subjects shes a natural at (MATHS< SCIENCE!!!!) doesnt take after her mother at all i might had. Others she struggles (languages ) with. All worked for .
I bought her a new hat, scarf and gloves set shes been hanging her chin over for the last few weeks and grandparents are going to get her a top up voucher for her phone too. My dad always dead chuffed. Shame my ds wasnt the same, hes the total opposite, wont work doesnt care and minimum effort at everthing. Never mind cant have everything can we?

pinkladymel

Well I bet your son has his qualities you love him for too. I know my son is just like.. he is my boy. I love my girl she is my princess but she is all daddy. You sound like a lovely mom buying her a well done present no wonder she wants to work so hard.

I made a nappy cake for my sister in law who is due in jan. She is having a baby shower so I thought it was a good excuse

Excuse carp piccys!

Triggles

finding my feet - we're going to be putting up an advent calendar for the first time this year. We need it to be for DS (2yrs), grandson (2yrs) and DD (22yrs) as even at 22 she hates to be excluded! :rotfl: So we're putting treats in some pockets, but activities in others - so there'll be little cardstock cards decorated, with info for a day's activities such as:

- an afternoon baking christmas goodies (will probably do this twice, for different treats)
- an evening walk around looking at decorations (hunting for particular decorations - like santa or snowman or whatever we decide)
- a special story time (for the little ones) with a Christmas story
- a special Christmas movie or programme (some geared towards little ones, some more grown up) with appropriate snacks (hot choc & biscuits)
- an afternoon making holiday decoration/ornaments (paper chains for little ones, something more interesting for older)
- an afternoon stringing stuff to hang on trees for birds
- a holiday outing (shopping, tea, window shopping, just something holiday related)
- an afternoon visiting friends or dropping off gifts for friends/family

You can do anything you'd like - just count the days and make sure you've planned them for days you can do them! Maybe you can brainstorm with the kids and get a list of suggestions from them and use some of those suggestions - just don't tell them what you've used - let them be surprised. You could put a beginning clue in the pocket and have them follow clues to find the treat. Obviously with this approach, we'll be doing it in the morning. I don't want them to grow up thinking that the time up to Christmas is just for a choccie a day - I want to use it to encourage more family time so that it seems fun.

Triggles

pinkladymel - I told my DH about your DH going to WWE, and poor thing - he was just green. He looooves WWE and watches it every week. (Ok, I'll admit I watch it with him - but he is by far the bigger fan!) One day I'm hoping to get tickets to take him to a live show. It'll have to be when DS is older though.

I think we've bought almost all the Christmas presents, except for a few bottles of wine and a gift for the MIL/FIL. We're still mulling over that one. I've got a list of what we've bought, and it's all kept in the sideboard cupboard, so no chance of stuff being found months later that were missed. (been there, done that - not doing it again!) Now we need to wrap them and put them back in the sideboard. We bought the Christmas tree last week (artificial) as our older one was falling apart so we binned it last year after Christmas. We buy one new decoration each year, and we bought a 4pk of decorations from the Disney Store last week, so that's done as well. The rest of the decorations are in boxes ready to go. I'm not 100 percent sure about our Christmas tree lights - so I will have to take them out and check them some time over the next week, in case we need to buy new ones.

So this week's list:
- check christmas tree lights. replace if needed.
- buy bottles of wine needed for gifts for family/friends.
- make christmas cakes (planned for friday as SIL coming over to help)
- clean out freezer by using miscellaneous items
- make set of cards for friend as a thank you for helping me with some stuff
- double check christmas card list and addresses
- start addressing envelopes for christmas cards
- take down "catchall shelves" in living room - or at least clean them off :rotfl:
- sort meal plan for next week using freezer stuff
- get out christmas dvds and cds so i can start using them (already have my christmas ring tone ready in my phone :rotfl: )

Inkedkitten

pinkladymel wrote: »

Hey.. Anyone who is training to be a midwife is alright with me I respect them and think of them highly for choosing that proffession (I don't know why it is just something I couldn't ever do I think.. I am squeamish!!) but I have met some that think the world owes them something and if you have ever been in labour you will know what "Any chance of a tea?" feels like :rotfl:

We need more people like you in the world inkedkitten I hope you're training is going ok x

Thank you mel, I've no kids myself, but from seeing women in labour I know that getting the midwife a tea isn't the first thing on your mind lol. I seriously don't know how some of them got on the course in the first place!

Anyway, my to-do list will have to start today

1.change bed sheets
2.tidy room
3.unpack work bags
4.buy a anniversary gift
5.find a recipe for truffles.

That'll do for now!

RoxieW

hi all - thanks for the kind words.

mel - thats what worries me about insisting on a home birth. that i'll get someone really begrudging who just see's me as a pain in the bum. your experience sounds like a nightmare - a good or bad midwife experience really shapes the way you feel about birth/children etc me thinks.

managed to push the app back to 9.30 so at least i'll be able to drop coby at school and todd's going to go to a friends for the morning. I hate all these appointments lately as our hospital is such a nightmare to get to.

inked - yes think am going to go for the birthing centre - although as for hosp handing out drugs like smarties, mine may have done had I actually seen a midwife while i was there with ds2. apparantly I wasnt in labour and didnt need pain relief/support/examination - erm the baby born a couple of hours later proved otherwise! I hope to get a midwife who actually listens to what I'm saying this time

RoxieW

fmf - i've also got parents evening tonight. not looking forward to it cos ds1 has got a real patronising old dragon of a teacher

RoxieW

great nappy cake - i made one for a friend a couple of months ago and loved it - am itching to make another one!

triggles - me too re the family time. We have lots of lovely things planned for december and I'll be leaving a gift under the tree each day with clues to these or crafty bits/baking bits/cinema tickets etc. sooooo excited. although hubby and 1 were working out when we are going to redo boys bedroom ready for xmas (one of their xmas pressies) and he was very casual - 'oh over the dec weekends'. Well, hello - weekend one - our anniversary - weekend 2 - center parcs - weekend three - his work do one day, panto day the other - weekend 4 - well, xmas over and done with!! so thats a bit scary! going to call MIL to see if she can have boys on our anniversary w/end so we can both get stuck into the bedroom, then seal it off ready for the big xmas reveal of the 'elves' handy work . I love having kids- its great

shaz_mum_of__2

thought you might like this link for stocking filler suggestion its a US one but transferrable

http://www.rollanet.org/~anderson/stuffers.html

RoxieW wrote: »

going to call MIL to see if she can have boys on our anniversary w/end so we can both get stuck into the bedroom,:)

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:



Shaz