Got the stockings filled (they are “hidden” in a closet). Now I think I need one more thing for D’s stocking (but she is easy to buy for). Grocery run is tomorrow (Christmas Eve dinner and the charcuterie board), I’m sure we will make at least one more run before Sunday.
I think that’s it.
I wrapped grab bags for Christmas Eve gathering and another batch for Christmas Day gathering with different folks. One had $5 limit, other had $10 limit.
I had shipped gifts to S and DIL in NYC, thinking they were spending holidays elsewhere. A few days ago, learned they’ll be here, so juggled around gifts and wrapped them all in brown paper. S seemed sad so while he went to airport to pick up wife and cousin, I put bows on all gifts so they look much cheerier & more festive. Haha!
Good thing the only thing left is a lot of wrapping. My spouse has been sick for 3 weeks, didn’t go to the doctor, and now got dizzy this morning and keeled over in the bathroom! I had made appointments at the clinic for all of us when I was awake at 3 am this morning, due to having caught his crud about four days ago. Struggling to maintain the holiday spirit, since this morning I wrapped the 3 (final) gifts for his parents that I asked him to wrap yesterday morning. 
Chilling here in CO. Boston son/DIL flying in tomorrow night, but until they and the Denver daughter decide more on their joint plans / mountain trip my meal planning is on hold. I do have a spiral ham.
Decorating was done a few weeks ago, before annual get together her with 2 girlfriends. Three packages were mailed at USPS and two at UPS by 12/11 (the UPS ground shipments did not have Christmas guarantee, but they arrived in less than a week). Christmas letter is the big collaborative chore including a ton of my husband’s photos on page2…. but the last of the printouts, for husband’s close friends with his notes) were in the mail yesterday.
My kids were raised with low standards on parental gifts. (Soooo many gifts came from relatives, so we usually just had stockings and a nicer gift for each from parents and shared gift from Santa). And they are not into “things”, so they have stockings and small gifts plus cash. And checks from the account I inherited from my mom - fun to keep the grandma tradition going.
I ordered on 11-30 a pair of running gloves for SIL. They were shipped DHL until the last stop USPS. He never got them and not in time for their travels up north. I got a refund, did not want to risk the delivery method again. Now, I am going to get a gift card in L.A. at a plant nursery that is very popular. He loves plants. Just have to do this without a mailbox delivery.
Last night my sister who graciously offered to hose Christmas Eve at her house kept asking what games there would be for the holidays so I volunteered to come up with some and went to Costco 1 hour before it closed to get prizes. I asked D and she voted for Black Forest gummy bears in small packets. We can give one out every time someone guesses whatever correctly—we have 65 packets in the box!
I’m thinking charades since we have a very wide variety of ages—infants & toddlers to 90+. Maybe a pen/pencil & paper game too. I just found a whole bunch of free printable games online. One has you name 3 whatever is on card in time limit—5 or 10 seconds. Another is charades or pictographs with cute cards I printed—with blanks to add 7 more Christmas things. The 3rd is a bunch of opposite names for popular Christmas carols—people are to guess & write correct name. Made 25 sheets of this one on plain paper. The others (cards with clues or cues) were printed on cardstock.
I have one more batch of cookies to bake…and I need ONE ingredient I can’t seem to find in this house. So I will get it later today.
Getting closer!
Just ordered Christmas lights for outside from Amazon, arriving by 10 pm tonight, why did we think all of our lights would be working? Placed the order when H got out the electrical tape and scissors.
I’m at the stage of trying to decide if I need one or two more things for one kid to be “fair” (silly, I know). We decorated and baked a while back. Still need to do all of my wrapping and clean house for the family gathering on Christmas Eve. Fortunately, starting today I’m off work (except for checking e-mail). Tuesday will be the start of a relaxing week!
The tree is up! A glass of wine (or two, but the cats did not count 
) helped make the process smoother. Cats are old and ignore the whole thing. The most important part is my husband took care of the random junk we piled in the driveway when we cleared the deck for rebuilding. A few more little touches, and we are all set. 
My D has more presents than S and DIL, but none were mailed to her. I’m not concerned. S is the hardest to shop for anyway. Haha!
We also just got our tree yesterday. I was afraid pickings would be slim but we got the same beautiful tree we always get at a 50% discount! The kids arrive tomorrow just in time to trim the tree. Hey, any time before the holiday is okay in my book.
Low-key is definitely the vibe this year. My spouse is zero help at the holidays so, to avoid resentment, I’m only doing the things that bring the kids and I joy.
D trimmed the tree on Tuesday, as we learned DIL arrived yesterday. To make things look more festive, I put all my brown paper packages under tree and added colorful ribbons. It has simple white lights and assorted ornaments.
I think that should be the motto of everyone during the holidays. I do a lot of the stuff I love and skip the rest. I admit reading about everyone’s cooking and baking stresses me out. That is the anti fun to me, other than big holiday parties and group gatherings. We don’t do that either. I do the stuff I love and that’s it.
Hehehe, I keep removing things from the tree and giving them to recipients in advance—the quick lighter we will need for Christmas Eve that H is now charging on usb port, the cookies DIL loves in 2# tin and tennis shoes that D needs for hike with bro, SisIL & cousins that were under the tree. I guess I give useful gifts. 
Haha!
Very nice job on trimming all the packages! I have no patience for that!
Well, I wasn’t going to add bows until S seemed unhappy my packages didn’t look festive. I opted to up my game and make S and DIL happier. Since I had already wrapped everything in brown paper, adding the ribbon while S went to pick folks up at airport was easy and did make packages more attractive. Hehe!
H volunteered to wrap the family presents earlier this month. You’d think great! Well he dumps the large misc. ribbon bin claiming it’s a hot mess. He wasn’t exactly wrong, but he only uses the premade bows with peel and stick tape (which I keep in a separate bin and pulled out for him). I like to use butcher paper with fun ribbons, handmade bows and unexpected things on the package (like small ornaments). So he really made more work for me to put it all back the way I had it.
Then I had to leave the room while he was wrapping because he’s so sloppy it was driving me crazy. Sigh. I suppose it’s a me problem. 
Sigh! That’s the reason I don’t delegate wrapping because no one in this house does it more efficiently than I do. Husband may (or may not) occasionally assist by pressing on the paper to hold it in place while I secure it with tape etc.
I don’t like anyone messing with my stuff when I wrap. This year, I bought 4 dozen bottles of mac nut oil and just wrapped them all in 2 days, with bows. If I had “help,” it would have taken MUCH longer.
I also sometimes am rethinking whom I am gifting what to while I wrap. I can’t do that if anyone else is involved.
