KISS Keep it Simple Saturday PWYC

[blessedw2]

hello d Lucy! gift shopping is overwhelming for me as well!
have you ever thought of just asking that you all just do the kids? do they have grandchildren? That may help if they do.
are they into books-we do Barnes & N gift cards/amazon gift card/what are their likes?
what ever you do will be special and a blessing!!!

have fun at the birthday party!!! nice that they are having it at their church! \
for mom - I loved our cameras for my mom ! really helped.

hi d mystery!!
hope your dh has fun at the hockey game!
hope he enjoys his free morning!

hi d twins how nice that he has torah study!
did you order Stamos? yay
have fun going out to dinner!

hello everyone

[lucylee]

Believe me, blessed, I would have been suggesting just kids a long time ago IF they had any. Sigh. Dniece and dnephew are unmarried and no children… and no prospects, LOL. So there’s 5 of us, including dgrands, and 4 of them, all adults.

[Ramblinrose]

Lucylee… I made the decision to cut back on my Cmas this year.

I have 3 nephews and one niece all that have spouses. Every year I send each including their spouses a $10 Starbucks card. However I never receive anything from any of them no card or thank you so I’m done.

All but one couple have children … all under the age of five and I do send a card and a book. None of the parents ever thank me for that either, so this year I’m just sending cards but no books.

Do your relatives outside your immediate family give presents to you? Perhaps this year would be a good time to ask how they feel about exchanging gift.

My brother and I are very close but I gave up sending anything to him and his family because they never did with me. I’m ok with that. I just send them a card and wish them the best.

[blessedw2]

isn't it funny - how many young people don't do thank you's anymore.

it's hard to do adults when they don't have any ideas. I am glad we cut the adults!
I remember the huge lists we used to have.

I do think that dd's can see the time going by - dd younger said that she will send to me some ideas. dd older already send a few ideas.

[Nancy]

More knitting then had lunch /
Pumpkin bread is done gave that away.
Walk is done.
-----
I did no leaf raking I did sweep the deck off however.
We have winds the next two days so glad I took a break.
I'll be interested how many come down.
Ddoggo insisted I chack my bs so glad!

Had early dinner.

[Twins' Mom]

We don't have family left that we do gifts with, just dh and dkids. And we give dkids money. Considering we don't celebrate Christmas, it always felt like a burden to me to shop for Christmas gifts for my family - parents, dsis, her dh, and nephew and dbro, his spouse (until they divorced) and dnephew. So gift giving here is simple, except for finding something that dh likes, appreciates. and hasn't purchased for himself.

We're heading out for the evening soon....

[blessedw2]

I have that with my dh- he pulled up a list and then started purchasing it for himself - He does that every year - I had to tell him to stop buying himself stuff until after the holidays - he is the most difficult person to buy for. this year has been different bc he keeps wanting things - it does not matter the cost - it's not big but I already went past my budget for him. he has never done that before - usually cheap

Most of mom's front room/living room is set up - I didn't get to the family room - I didn't wrap any presents

I moved mom's christmas tree in the front/living room where she is now sleeping. it's a good room for caretaking. The wood floors makes moving the Sara steady and wheelchair easy

I still have to put groceries away -\

tomorrow is going to be busy day
I have the landscape helper coming tomorrow: to help with the yard
I have to work on the family room.

[Harriet]

lucylee, your brainstorming about your family gifts got me to think about my own, so thanks. I posted in The Creative Home's Holiday thread, though.

Two reasons I like book gifts - first, they are a very respectful gift, reminding the recipient that you recognize that they are literate, intelligent folks, and you encourage them to read, too. Second, they require bookmarks.

Ds emailed to ask me what to give HRH, who is so hard to buy for. He really is, plus he is very uncomfortable or awkward receiving gifts - he doesn't know how to accept them well and gets worried that he's not saying the right thing. The gift HRH talks about ALL the time is the trip and donation the children and I did years ago when dd27 was small, taking sports equipment to a children's home. We just gave him a mini-booklet with photos of it and told him that was his Christmas present, and he adored it. I told dh he was uniquely positioned as a fire chief, to be able to easily find some home/group who had a need and meet it and just bring HRH a photo. I wonder if he'll do it.

We had several deliveries today of odds and ends we've needed. All my storage boxes for Christmas items are back up on the high shelf in hall closet again thanks to HRH. I love those boxes, long ago marked "C-1, C-2," etc. as prescribed by P and P. One through four once held reams of paper, very sturdy. Number 5 is a larger general storage box. Some of the items I don't use every time we decorate. But I do try to keep the collection from growing past those boxes. It's going to help this time when dd27 takes her personal decor home with her.

Ramblin', I was so sorry to hear that your Sweetie had gotten sick now. Hope you're both on the road to recovery.

LadyM, how right you were to call ds52 and let him hear you out on all that came at you. All your children and grands will want to be a part of the many solutions that will be there for you and dh. Hugs to you two.

Twins', how nice a day can you have!!? Creativity through the daylight and going out on a date night in the evening! Have fun.

[Harriet]

Meant to note that mom-91, who had joined in March, was just now able to post in the Thanks for Adopting Us thread.

[lucylee]

Rose, my dbro and I quit exchanging gifts quite some time ago -- he suggested it and said he and dsisil would give to my dgrands, but we'd stop exchanging with adults -- except we both still give dmom gifts.
Dbroil though... sigh... I have to let THEM make the suggestion, since the children are in my bunch. I can't say let's stop exchanging gifts and disappoint dgrands, or let's stop exchanging gifts, but y'all can keep giving my grandchildren nice things. LOL. We have all exchanged gifts since I married into this family. It is getting tiresome though.

This year dsisil asked if we would like to do Christmas Eve at their house. Except for the one year that dmil's house was empty, we've done Christmas Eve at that house (where ds/family live now) every single year. DH would have had a FIT if we'd changed. Even when dfil was bed-bound, Christmas Eve was there... and last year, without dh, it was there. DH spent every Christmas Eve of his life at that house and after 44 years, I kinda hate to change. OTOH, ds and ddil are very happy to give it up, since plowing through the clutter of just their living room and kitchen is an awful lot of trouble for them. DDIL may have to work Christmas Eve day also, so that's an even bigger incentive for her to give up hosting.
DS did ask me if we could still have bar-b-que from favorite restaurant, so I have to ask dsisil if that is still in the plan.

I have had a very nice day -- enjoyed celebrating little cousin's 2nd birthday, went out to dmom's and put her hair in rollers for church tomorrow (so glad she's feeling better!) dgrands and I helped her get her fall decorations in off the porch and I put her Swiffer mop together... and then dgrands and I went to see dcousin age 12 perform in a junior version of The Wizard of Oz. It was sooo good! It is a county-wide production of middle school students. One of my former students (and distant cousins) is the teacher in charge of it. It was amazing to me to see what they can do with what I am sure is a very limited budget. I love everything about the Wizard of Oz anyway, so it was right down my alley to begin with.
Dcousin didn't have a speaking part (except to "meow" -- she was the cat that Toto chased at the end, causing Dorothy to miss the balloon ride with the wizard) but she was on stage as also as a munchkin and carried clouds that said "Surrender, Dorothy."
After we got home, local reporter friend called to interview dgs. He had already talked to ds -- said his editor told him to interview "an Auburn family." He said he immediately thought of us, since dgs was a 4th generation attending the big game next week. He wants to take a picture of ds and dgs Monday morning.
(I know some of y'all can't relate to how big this game is down here but in this state, as dgs told the reporter, it's something people talk about all year. I'm sure Rose and Bama know what I mean, LOL.)
Dcousins asked dgd and me to join all of them to watch together. Their three adult sons run a gym and they all get together and watch on a big screen there -- here in town. It's a night game, so I don't know if we'll stay for the whole game, but I think we'll go down there for the first half anyway. I suspect there will be lots of good food!

However, tonight dgs has thrown up and is in the shower here at 12:45. I hope he feels better tomorrow. He probably did not take his antacid this morning. It is a recurring problem, but his gastroenterologist doesn't seem to think it happens often enough to be a sign of anything serious. He had a meatball sub for supper.