I ordered stuffed-animal replicas of our beloved cat (my avatar) one each for my three kids - I think they’ll all be shocked, but really love it.
@Gourmetmom please send link to where you placed the cat order!
I bought a few gifts at a craft fair today. The girls in the family are so much easier than the guys!
I buy practical things for most of the gifts for my (adult) kids. They happen to like aerie underwear and they were (maybe still are?) on sale: 10 for $31. Each is getting 10 pair…I know it’s the kind of thing they’ll appreciate.
We also are taking the kids (and, for the first time, a significant other!) on a family trip to Thailand in January and so I’m debating about how generous I’ll be for the other nights of Hanukah. It’ll probably depend on what else I come across that they would truly appreciate and/or they really do need.
I bought Hallmark ornaments today for my niece and nephews. I get them an ornament every year but usually wait and then am disappointed that the ones I like are sold out.
Day 6: Plan Your Holiday Card Strategy
Well, that’s super simple for me. I stopped sending them about a decade ago. 
I don’t miss it. I only receive bout a dozen cards these days. I’m sure it’s a combo of other people stopping and some removing me from their list since I no longer send them one.
https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/christmas-card-ideas-holiday-jumpstart-263731
Haha - me too - NO cards!!! Never looked back! 
I love cards. This year is easy because one of my son’s got married so we have a nice family picture.
I buy cards after Christmas, when they are on clearance. I keep the cards I received last year with the box of new ones in the closet and only send a card to those who sent one to me. My list is about 1/3rd of what it used to be!
After reading on other threads about kids not knowing how to address or stamp an envelope, I’m going to have my kids address/stamp them for me during Thanksgiving break
No cards here, either. I admit… I still love to get them, though. But my holiday stress level went down a lot when I stopped sending them.
Most of the folks I’d send them to we see on a regular basis and it is just one more thing for folks to have to figure out what to do with. We haven’t done cards but for awhile, we did a periodic newsy update. We’ve stopped those as well.
I am lucky if both kids & their families are together once during the year. This year it will be at Christmas, so hopefully there may be a New Year’s card for those few people that I still send them to - elderly relatives & friends who aren’t on FB.
We sent holiday cards only once, and they were a huge hit because my husband had the brilliant idea of enclosing random photos, instead of a posed family picture. So we had friends calling up and laughing that they got a picture of the backs of our heads in a canoe, one of the kids writing the date of a huge snowstorm in the snow covered window of our minivan, a cat sitting in the sink with the faucet running, etc.
But this was so much work I doubt we’ll ever do it again.
We haven’t sent cards in years…but might get a photo card made this year…not a lot but some. Family wedding would be nice for folks to see!
It has been years that I have been sending card to friends and patients. I say each year that I I’ll stop, but then a patient comes in &says my card was their only one. I bought beautiful cards on sale last year, so I know I’ll be redoing 60-70 cards this year.
I haven’t sent cards for the past five years. (I sent 100 for many years,)
I did write a newsy letter last year, but never printed or sent it. Maybe I’ll find it and give it an update and send it this year. We still receive about 20 cards, so those people will go on the list.
Might get a “photo” type card this year since kid got married.
But I love to get cards! I know you’re across town. I don’t care. It’s like a tiny “present” in some way.
What was really fun is when I sent pictures not of us but of the recipients. I had taken pix over the year of a lot of people so featured them on the front of the card–hopefully a pix they didn’t already have. Great fun!
OOh, thanks for the cards reminder. I started doing photo cards last year and it was really easy to do online. Trouble is, I did it so last minute that I had less options. I went through Costco online, but could pick them up in the store.
They have discontinued that store pick up service, but I can still get them if I order earlier. ALSO, they gave me a $50 coupon last year because they were discontinuing that service! I never even spent that much. It was fun putting together a collage of photos to send people.
“I would think at some point,once they’ve stopped growing, that there is such a thing as too many pajamas…”
Exactly. I was just in denial last year because the boy was so far away. And really, the last time I got them matching PJ’s (Buddy the Elf) they thought it was hilarious and we got some great pictures. So I may do that this year and then declare the young adults old enough to buy their own PJ’s.