It seems I have pushed it to the very end this year – I’m still only 50% finished with Christmas gifts! Yikes… and I’m literally in Wisconsin right now working my way back home to the DC area in time for a nice dinner and party w/ the family… which means I’ll only have ONE day left now to shop – Christmas Eve! Haha… Wow.
I feel like I have a thousand and one excuses for such a delay, but really I just haven’t been paying close enough attention ;) And it’s pretty crazy too considering I WORK FROM HOME!! How hard would it have been to go to Amazon or Target online or something? Or just taken a few hours break one day to hit up some Kohls and TJ Maxx action, etc? (Oh wait, I did do that – I just forgot to go back again later to finish up, arghh…). And then of course *work* always has to get in the way… After all, without that I’d have no money to go shopping with anyways! But still… def. my fault ;)
So while y’all are out relaxing and having fun w/ your friends and family cozying up next to warm fires and drinking apple cider together, try and think about your poor blogger friend J. Money, will ya? While he’s all stressed out and going through the last-minute pains? I swear he’s never doing this again!! ;)
Might I also not be alone in this, though?? Anyone else gonna tear it up today or tomorrow before the big festivities hit? If you are, I’m rooting you on!! You can do it!!! And if everything’s closed by then, better start getting your craftiness on, haha… I’m gonna come up with like 10 things I can make on the plane ASAP if $hit hits the fan… I’m thinking coupon books for the mom (“Use this for 1 free hug!”), a picture album for the brother (“Remember how awesome our childhood was?”), and a bottle of whiskey for good ol’ dad (liquor stores are always open, right?). I’ll figure something out ;)
Wherever you guys are in your shopping though, I wish each and every one of you a VERY merry holiday weekend! You all will forever be in my heart, and I’m extremely grateful for the love and friendships we’ve built over the years here on this crazy blog of ours. We’ve gone through a lot in the last 4 years, and I THANK YOU all from the bottom of my heart for always supporting me. You make me the luckiest bastard around, no joke.
Happy holidays y’all, got nothing but love for ya!
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(Christmas guinea pig by kitkatherine)
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I purposely left the remainder of my shopping to be finished today. Today is the day that Discover Card has 2% cash back instead of 1% cash back! Merry Christmas!
Hey, J$, you know how I told you yesterday I was doing a post about giving experiences? I think we are on the same wavelength again because I talked about giving homemade coupons… except I totally ripped on them, lol. If you think they work you can definitely tell me that in comments! But maybe the post will give you some good last-minute ideas :)
It was awesome to meet you yesterday! So glad I could be part of the last Love Drop!!
HA! I’m done with all of mine – have been for a few days now. It’s AWESOME. Although my mom isn’t done so I told her I would help her out a bit before Sunday.
And I’m so glad we got to hang out last night at the Drop! Hopefully next time I won’t be delirious from lack of sleep. lol
You are not alone! I am only 50% done. Only 15% of my Christmas cards have been sent. This year money was tight, expectations (self-imposed, probably) were high. That translated to me shopping on my day off-today. :/ I think I’m just going to do cards and gift certificates next year.
I only have one project left to finish tonight, then I’m DONE! But I will say this — next year, I am making a plan to have most of my shopping and crafting done by Thanksgiving. Then during December I can do the important Christmas stuff with my daughter — bake cookies, go sledding, ring for Salvation Army again. We will see how reality treats my plans.
I still have one more Christmas present to procure. And I work tomorrow morning. I’m definitely in trouble. :(
This year I thought it would be fun to be crafty. But.. makeing crafty things for 20 someodd family members takes forever! I have to finish up the last of my projects and baking this morning!
Tell everyone you and your wife are having a baby! There shopping done lol.
I actually had a pretty good year I completed 10 knitted gifts, bought and now have wrapped all other gifts, have baked cookies, tree has been up and decorated. Christmas is looking calm and cool this year….LOVE IT
I have faith that you will get through and have a few cute gifts to give. Your blog is a testament to your creativity, so I am not so worried. Having to rush before the deadline makes life exciting too… just trying to put a positive spin on things for you! Have a great holiday!
I always wait till the last few days, and after I always say never again. oh well :)
I ran into a bit of this problem. I think my solution to this is… add to my Google calendar now.. today for next Christmas. I’m organizing it like this.
1. List of people I need to get cards for (group in family, friends, coworkers and clients)
2. List of people I need to get presents for (same grouping… however most will be for family and friends)
Then set up notifications throughout the year for me to review. Here I can rethink any that I need to add… add gift ideas… possibly buy a gift for someone to store for Christmas.
Next year.. I hope I’ll be much more prepared! Happy holidays!
I thought I had all of my shopping done, but alas- I did not. I got home and realized that I wanted to give a little something to a few folks I only see once a year now and ended up having to search the house for my old gift reserves for some guests and friends I was going to meet up with. Luckily though, for things like that I shop a year in advance and get gifts the day after Christmas that don’t go bad and save them for the following year- I always seem to forget little things like hostess gifts for parties or guests that stop by…oh gosh.
Merry Christmas- you’ll get it done…just have a beer before you hit the crowded malls..or maybe that’s just my advice. lol.
Totally in the same position, J! I almost only shop online, so how hard would it have been for me to sit for a few minutes and get my shopping done a few weeks ago? Now I’m scrambling trying to find stuff at the last minute. Good luck and happy holidays!
Sooo, funny story. I totally thought you were taking a break from blogging because I didn’t see any posts from Budgets Are Sexy showing up in my feed. Then I realized I must have accidentally hit “unsubscribe” at some point. Now I have to catch up on all those unread posts. ;-)
Anyway, I managed to get all of my gifts purchased, but I may need to do some last-minute running for gift wrap stuff, and also for food… My husband and I are hosting Christmas dinner for 14!!
All that’s left are the two online donations I make yearly (wanted to wait for payday) for friends to charities and I’m DONE. One present left to wrap. Going to the store to buy ingredients for appetizers/food. Then I can relax all weekend!
Merry Christmas J$!
So Google calendar won’t let you set up alerts past 4 weeks… no! There goes my idea ;)
J$, I think that’s a Christmas guinea pig!!!
J$, hope you finished your shopping and are relaxed with your drink of choice. This year I made sure that the story from times past is not repeated by buying very few presents – so finished long time ago.
Merry Christmas, J$, and have a lovely break.
I DID IT! Successfully completed all Christmas shopping by 2pm on Christmas Eve, haha… it wasn’t fun, but we got ‘er done ;) Hope you all did too!
@Kimberly Ransom – Ooooh, nicely plaid!
@Jessica @ Faith Permeating Life – Yeah! Thanks so much for coming out again, it really meant a lot :) And I totally agree that *experiences* are where it’s at! My Aunt ALWAYS gives us one ever year and I love it :) Have a great week!
@Emmy – YES! Was soooo fun meeting you in person finally :) I’m such a huge fan of yours! Thank you for EVERYTHING you’ve helped w/ over the year, you are an incredible person. Hope you had a great Christmas!
@Peliroo – Gift cards are awesome, I’m always about them no matter what people say :) Hope you worked it all out!
@daydream kate – Awwww, that sounds like a most wonderful idea! I like that a lot – esp the spending time w/ your daughter doing fun stuff together :) Thanks for sharing!
@Tessa – Yikes! Did you accomplish it?
@Aubrey – Wowww, yeah that’s a lot! Hope you rocked it!
@LB – Haha… I’d still feel bad though ;)
@Jeannine – Nice! I totally need to be more like you next year :)
@SmartAssetTeam – Aww, thanks! I always work it out in the end, I just go crazy doing it all last minute every time ;) Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
@Jeff @MyMultipleStreams – One day we’ll learn ;)
@Christine Wilson – You can still figure out a way to do it! Maybe buy one present a week until you’re all done or something? Haha… just set it to remind you once a week :)
@Shannyn – Haha, I like your advice ;) I didn’t do that this year, but I’m gonna have to remember that for the next one!
@Jeffrey Trull – Thanks man! Hope you got it all figured out too :)
@Stephanie – HAH! Well welcome back to the party, my friend :) You missed some exciting news last week! I’m gonna be a daddy, yay!!!! Hope your 14 person dinner went well! :)
@Jen – Awesome! I got a gift of donations too this year! From my mom :) I really like that gift idea.
@Jamie – Hah! It just may be, huh? Going to edit my comment now ;) Happy Holidays!
@Maria Nedeva – Thanks Maria! Hope you had a blessed holiday too! :)