I'm not big on gifting for Christmas. And garden gifts generally only work if the recipient is nearby. I'm at the stage in life when completing a list of garden projects would be a wonderful Christmas gift, lol. We'll see if that happens this year.

Have to be honest, I really enjoy the fall holidays more because there are no expectations other than a day of gluttony on Thanksgiving. Hang some Indian corn on the door, put a pumpkin on the porch, a few "fallish" things in the house and you're good for 3 months ... September - November. But come December all heck breaks loose. It's one thing after another! And then in a flash it's over. ;)

Family is much smaller this year. I may do some holiday baking to share and a little decorating, but that's going to be it. Already have the 3 gifts for BIL/SIL. Always kitchen-related and this year I got a wicked deal on Cuisinart ice cream makers ... so it's sort of the reverse of Christmas in July.

Oh no. Not yet!

I agree...NOT yet, I 'm not ready!
DH has started talking about Christmas and that we need to starting thinking about gifts. I'm just not there.... I would really like to just skip the "gift giving" and just have the time with family. Doubt that would go over very big with the 8 grandkids though...especially as they are mostly young.

LOL Nell, I have several gifts already set aside for family, we are slowly turning away from the commercial side of gift giving in our family, instead we're exchanging things we have made ourselves.

Annette

I have thought about it! I always ask for garden things for the holidays. This year id love a pallet of flagstone! Lol I have never tried forcing bulbs, maybe ill look into it! I would like it if we cut back. Every year we said we will, and it never happens!

Now that you put the thought in my head...we went to the bird store today and they had the prettiest little bird houses...lol.

mary lu-I tried to suggest to my elderly parents one year that we all have too much stuff anyway and we should give to charities instead and then share our choices. Didn't go over well. I did give to the Heifer Fund that year for everyone, though, in addition to buying gifts. Now that the parents are gone, I may try to suggest that to my son and my may-as well-be-but isn't-yet DIL that we do that. They are very much into giving back, so maybe we can do it this year.

Annette, if I had to make gifts myself, everyone would be out of luck! I am so untalented.

Lilyfinch-what a great idea-flagstone!

Maybe my gifts this year will be through giving loans to KIVA since we have so much and others have so little.

Thanks for getting me thinking, Nell!

Cynthia

The kids and I have plans for stepping stones and bird feeders. My mom is working on a new flower bed just outside her kitchen window and we thought it would be really cool to have a stepping stone from each grandkid. We love giving homemade gifts, but I've never thought about forcing bulbs. That's a great idea!

Cyn, we've done "no presents, just your presence" birthdays. The kids weren't much for it at first, but once we got started with it some of their other friends parents have followed. One had a party where we brought food items to donate to a local charity, we wrapped them just as we would have a birthday gift and she got to unwrap them. It turned out to be a lot of fun!

I just wrote out a Christmas list the other day - everything on it was garden related! As for gifts,I may make some lavender sachets and dry some herbs. There are no small kids in my family and everyone already has too much stuff. I like to give things that can be used up. My other thought is mail order citrus. We have a local program here that is very good. I could put together some fruit baskets with these great garage sale fireside baskets I got this summer. Four for a dollar! Actually, that sounds like fun - I'm doing it.

Pleeeeeeease. I went into Lowes yesterday and flew into a rage (OK, I didn't really do that - just trying to be dramatic) when I saw Santa Clauses and lighted Christmas trees. I love Christmas, or at least I used to, but how much more can we dilute the season and have it mean anything at all?

When I was a boy (oh, here we go) my dad put up the Christmas tree on Christmas eve, and what a wonderful surprise it was to come downstairs the next morning. I suppose some of that was because I was five.

My dad told us that when he was a boy, they did their Christmas shopping on Christmas eve (day?). Could that have been true? It would have been in the 1920s. I imagine Christmas shopping was a whole lot simpler then, which makes me wistful for a time I never even saw.

Anyhow, I'm pretty curmudgeonly about this, and I do my best to keep it as special as I can, and thank God that they haven't turned on the Christmas music yet. So nope, I have no plan and don't expect to get one for a good long time yet.

ThinMan

P.S. In the interest of full disclosure, I will say that DW doesn't share my feelings about this, and will have a plan long before I'm even ready to admit that it's time. I recognize that her actions allow me to play the grumpy Christmas hold-out. It's one of the many ways she humors me and I love her for all of them.

Move over TM, make room for me :o). I have been known to walk out of a store muttering, (well I can't repeat what I mutter) without purchasing what I came for because said store had the Christmas stuff out before Halloween. Christmas time means different things to many of us, but it is special to all of us. All this early commercializing ... don't get me going.
We quite often don't put up our tree until Christmas eve, a glass of sherry helps yours truly with the precise placing of ornaments :o).
The more Christmas is commercialized the more I find myself heading towards having the old fashioned kind. Time to spend with family, good eats and remembering those less fortunate then myself. A time to give, the food bank and the S.P.C.A. heads the top of my list.

Annette

A few weeks ago I went to a local nursery to buy another hummingbird feeder. I knew before I walked in the door that Christmas would already be out ... and sure enough it was. I know putting up all those trees and decorating them takes time, but it is a shame that the holiday has become so commercialized and in-your-face.

bbhills, love your birthday idea. That is the best gift you could give to your children, I think-to care about others less fortunate and then DO something!

TM and Annette, is there room on that sleigh for me? lol. I don't think the magic was only because you were five-seeing the tree for the first time on Christmas morning is always magical. I think we children of the 40s (DH) and 50s (me) were lucky. No decorating or music until after Thanksgiving which made that a wonderful family-oriented holiday without commercial distractions. We have begun hosting a Christmas eve open house for our neighbors. The ones with wee ones stop in early, eat, visit a little, drink enough, and go home to put the kids to bed. Those of us who are empty nesters hang out a little longer and celebrate a little more, perhaps knowing we won't be awakened at dawn as in the old days. Grown kids are included as well. I started this about five years ago when a neighbor was feeling sad because all the kids were out of the house. Even though they were coming home on Christmas day, she was dreading Christmas eve without anyone but the two of them in the house. It has now become a tradition and it makes for a fun and festive evening. We also always give out small ornaments as take-home gifts for everyone.

I too felt my jaw drop and my eyes bug out the other day when I slipped into Lowes to pick up some cow poo. There they were in all their red shininess, ready to be plugged in to shout out holiday carols. I had to stop and think for a second what the date was. October 3rd? Uh, yeah, not even Halloween yet! And we're still wearing shorts and tshirts here in Georgia. LOL

I'm not gardener enough yet to give the gift of nature. But I do have a long list of gardening books/tools/plants etc. that I want for me!

I agree that every year the decorations come into the stores earlier. This year I was more upset when I went to Lowe's and saw the quality of the Rudolph decorations. With the exception of one that was there last year (which Mom got for me for last year's birthday), they all seem cheaper looking.

Having a birthday in early December, I usually don't decorate until after the tenth. I like the idea of putting the tree up on Christmas Eve. We don't have kids, but if we did, I think it's a great way to make a bigger surprise on Christmas morning, without everything being about gifts. I love presents as much as the next person :) but I think there is too much emphasis on things.

I've been doing more gardening this year and would like to incorporate some into my gifts for the nieces and nephews, but usually end up sewing or baking gifts. This year, my soon to be 11 year old niece (also early December birthday girl) will be bringing her best friend out to make Christmas cookies for her "birthday present" and I'm making them both cute little gingerbread aprons from Walmart. That and a cookie cookbook should keep them both busy for the season :)

Ok Nell, it's your turn. What's your plan? I have to admit, the other day I was thinking about where to put the fresh tree this year since furniture now sits where it stood last Christmas.

I too get really annoyed with the early and earlier Christmas things become forced in our faces...before Halloween is just crazy, but I noticed one very good thing this year.....there is MUCH MUCH less Christmas stuff out there....it seems a bit more basic in nature...trimings and stuff and some decor..but not all the really stupid stuff, the kind of flash in a pan stuff..the big seller this year, but never seen again seems gone this year. It seems to be mostly tree trimings, wreaths and a "bit" of pretties for indoor and out but not buckets worth! I am guessing with the economy like this, they suspect it won't sell so the buyers did not buy it....that is a good sign!! Even if it is only for this year ......

Hope you are right,Keesha...and that it lasts!

Cynthia

Our Lowes had all their Christmas stuff out the last week of Sept.

I'll bet retailers are rushing the season because of the economy. With revenues down this year, they probably really need the cash that holiday sales generate, ASAP.

I almost feel sorry for them.

Most Lowe's stores in the south should already have their Christmas displays in order. However, near the front door, you should see a seed rack still in place with perennials and next year's annuals. Some veggie seeds are still there too. Those are great stocking stuffers for those of us who like to toss seeds out into the 1/2" of snow we get. There's also gardening tools on aisle 28. And of course, gift cards that can be used next spring when the weather warms up. Just ignore the Christmas stuff. It'll be gone the second week in December and we'll start stocking the shelves with garden hoses again.

Me, I plan to do what I always do, spend Christmas eve at the parents' house shooting fireworks to make sure Santa can find us. My nephew is 11 this year and still professes to believe in Santa but we all know he's just worried he won't get any gifts if he says otherwise. There'll be lots of food that night, some visitors from their church, our huge extended family, and maybe a single gift from each of us opened. I'll bring home 12 new pairs of socks, some underwear, a couple pairs of pants, and a few shirts. I'm hoping for a new pair of work boots too. I've worn the bottom off last year's already and that was in April. I could buy a new pair for myself, but I'd rather spend my extra cash on plants.

For my family, I tend to make presents. Last year, my mom got new picture frames. My sister got a couple shelves for her endless supply of nicknacks. My dad, he got peg board for his new "shop". My nephew got a couple video games with learning as its focus. My sister's husband, he got lottery tickets and a bit of cash. I think he won $2.

Sounds like a wonderful time, Token. Hope you get those boots.

I never saw so many different Christmas blow-up lawn ornaments in one place as I saw at Lowes. What will they think of next? Some are HUGE. And the all the rage this year must be things with flashy lights to stick in your yard.

Most of my immediate family is dead (only child) or live far away, and are not close. I was 'adopted' by a good friend's family many years ago, and they started celebrating an early Christmas as their family grew - it was too hard to have dinner at one persons or anothers home. I got wild for a few years, trying to buy, bake, or make pressies for all. Several years ago, we tried a new tradition, which has proved popular, as well as being fun. We each buy one present, for no more that $20, wrap it up, and it goes in a pile in the LR, during brunch. Everyone draws a number, and then, #1 picks the 1st present; #2 can pick a new present, or 'steal' #1's present, if they like it better!!! #1 can only steal it back once (I believe)- side deals are made. We have gotten very creative, and it is amazing what is popular - one year, 2 very nice pillows went around the room, and were highly prized!! My friends immediate family, that is, husband, children and their spouses, put money together to help a needy person or family, usually local, and become a secret Santa for them.

Nancy.

Nancy, my husband's family does the same "gift exchange" on Christmas Eve. It's really funny what will be popular and what no one wants. I think one person can steal a gift, but if someone else steals it, the first "stealer" can't resteal...it gets confusing. All I know are there are some crazy alliances made to get nice dish towels or a Seahawks t-shirt. My husband's brothers will go out of their way to wrap up a "loser" gift, so that someone will pick it for the way it looks. Then no one wants to trade for it! Everyone seems to have fun, though :)

I'm feeling bad thinking that I may have ticked off Nell with my response. I don't think she has posted since I wrote it. I jumped on her question in a negative way which took the topic in a different direction than she was intending.

Sorry, Nell. I understand that you have to plan ahead and I shouldn't have picked your post to unload with one of my pet peeves.

ThinMan

Gee I hope not TM, I have come to think of this forum as one you can say what you feel without ticking anyone off. Opinions are just that opinions and I for one state mine quite frequently :o) or :o( that's just the way I am.
With this D*mn flu going around I hope Nell is well and just busy with other things, has anyone heard? We miss you Nell.

Annette

I haven't seen Nell post anywhere for a while.

Lol - I have started the kids' wish lists, since they keep mentioning stuff. And my MIL already called and asked about certain ideas! Heck, she already discussed which American Girl doll dd wants, back in August!!! My birthday was last month, and she asked if I wanted a gift card for clothes or plants. I told her clothes now, and plants at Christmas, lol. She's given me a Bluestone gc a few times now...and I definitely have plans for one for spring! Other than that, I haven't really started thinking about what I want.

Otoh, I was in Target with dd last week, looking for a witch's hat for her costume, and we were both horrified that the Christmas stuff was already out. She was very cute in echoing my horror!