Merry Christmas to everyone here on WS forum - Carrie (This cartoon was posted by myself on another thread but I had to repeat it in case someone missed it - It just cracks me up everytime)

Really beautiful story Lucy. That is very good of you and your daughter to do. I saw a show last night about 2 ladies that they call the garage sale queens. Every saturday they go to garage sales and buy socks, shoes blankets coats and hats and gloves and a few days before Christmas they go to downtown Austin and pass everything out to the homeless. It brought tears to my eyes to see those grown men crying with joy for something to keep them warm.

Start of the season...when 101.9 (Baltimore) and 97.1 (Washington) start their all-Christmas music around the middle of November...I never tire of Christmas music and love every minute of it! I just wish they played it until January 6...or at least through New Years Day! If we're home for Thanksgiving, we usually put up our outside decorations - lights, wreaths, garland. Sometime b/w Thanksgiving and December 6, we start decorating the inside - starting with our fireplace mantle. December 5/6 is "St. Nicholas Day", the children hang their stockings the night of Dec 5 with a letter to Santa. Santa stops by that night to pick up the letter and leave a small gift along with some fruit & candy to "tide them over" until Christmas. A week or so before Christmas, we all go out to cut our tree. We like to keep our tree up until well into January, so getting it little later means it lasts longer. (The tree in January helps lighten the drab days of post-Christmas winter.) On Christmas Eve, if our church has a service, we attend the service and then have my brother and his girl friend & her son over that evening. That night my DH and I wrap presents...well, I do most of them. I actually enjoy wrapping gifts, my DH not so much! We'll have a fire, watch "The Christmas Story" until my DH bails & goes to bed, and then I listen to Christmas music! I then "artfully" arrange the gifts under the tree and fill the stockings (more fruit & candy), turn off all the lights except the tree, and gaze at if for a while (I love it!) Christmas Day, is a quiet day spent at home...lounging around in our PJs most of the day! Back when our DS & DD still believed, they would be up at dawn. Once they were older, we had a rule that they could not wake us until 9am. They were free to check out their stockings, but they couldn't open gifts. Now that they no longer believe...well it's the same rule...not before 9am! We unwrap gifts and then I make blueberry muffins. That night, we have lasagna for dinner. The next day, we pack up and that night head north (western NY) to visit my mom and one of my sisters and other brother until around New Years Day. We decided when we had kids that we would always spend Christmas Eve & Day at home...no traveling until after Christmas! We wanted to spend it in our home with our kids. It's worked out very well. Christmas Day ends up being very relaxed!

We are definitely into the countdown & I have started - my DH is in food sales and gives each of his customers gifts (about 40 of them!). I start right after Christmas & get gifts for the next year on clearance. Usually we give books, candles, and ornaments and I try and stay under $5 for each. I have started buying for family too - all the grands - kids & neices & nephews (all 20 of them) get books. I purchase from a catalog/website that has on sale & clearance - I try to find books under $5 (for the customers mentioned above also). If you want the name of the website please e-mail me. For our 4 kids we wait until we get a list from them. I have bought items off the list & then got their list and ended up spending too much! For brothers & sisters & immediate nieces & nephews - I make jam/jelly & they each get a jar of wonderful goodness - we grow the fruit & then I make jam & jelly for them. I am about 1/2 way done on that... I don't post all that often - but I enjoy lurking - what a wonderful group of people. Thanks.