I know its a bit early, but have you given any thought to planning for Christmas 2009?

Here are some of the things I'm looking at:-

1. Christmas Eve Dinner - even with the simplification of the menu, I was still stressed and too tired to enjoy the evening.   I still spent a lot of money on food, rentals (not enough chairs at my house) etc.   I am seriously thinking of either having it catered or semi-catered or better yet, going out to eat!
2. Gifts - start shopping NOW!   I start shopping a few months in advance for the nephews, nieces etc, and that works well - those gifts were all bought by early November.  The part I HATED about shopping this year, was trying to find gifts for our kids, DH and really close relatives.  I tend to buy them later in the year, when I get a clearer picture of what they want, but it was too much stress this year. 
3. Gift wrapping - make more fabric gift bags during the year.  I sew often - there's no reason why I can't make a bag or two as I am working on other projects.  It's a lot better that trying to sew 25 bags at the same time!
4. Christmas Savings Account - I haven't done it in previous years, but I think I will start right now by setting aside a few $$ every month.

I think I will buy less for the kids and put more money in a xmas savings acct!

Buying less for the kids, planning ahead as mush as possible, and keeping a detailed list of gifts I pick up throughout the year. Also, to wrap just a few gifts each day as the holiday season gets close. I am sooooo not into the marathon wrapping sessions anymore!!

I've been thinking about this the last week or so.  I want to have a less stess filled Christmas season in 2009 so I'm starting NOW.  I had a really hard time this year finding stuff for our ds's stockings.  So, I've told them I want a list of things they would like to find in their stocking for next year.  I'll start looking for those items each time I shop and when I find a good deal I'll go ahead and get them.  I also want to use up some of my HUGH craft stash this year.  I have some book marks for cross stitch and I think I'll pull them out in the next week or so and start making some for gifts for my girlfriends.  They are nice gifts because if I don't get a chance to visit with each of my friends at Christmas I can just drop a book mark in a card and mail it to them.  I've also started making my Christmas cards for 2009.  I've been a card maker for several years and I've always wanted to make all my Christmas cards.  So, this year I'm going to figure out how many cards I'll need for next year and I will work on a few each month until I have enough.  I'm going to give this some more thought the next couple days and see what else I come up with.

Shellia

My only plans for next year include setting my Christmas teddy bears up like a circle of army-men around the base of the Christmas tree.  I think if I put them close together just under the edge of the branches, I can keep the cats from going under there.  They're brave kitties, but not brave enough to jump through the branches and climb down to get under the tree!  LOL

I would love to use up my craft stash but if is goes like last years resolutions....not much will happen!

I need to realize that every year I get sick this time of year, and this year was no exception!  That's why noone has seen me the last few weeks, and why next to nothing got done at the last minute for Christmas.  Plans?  Ha!  Out the window!  Promises?  Unfortunately, the same.  Very discouraging at my end and probably a big disappointment otherwise.  I wound up doing ornaments and mostly gift cards this year due to being ill.

 However, a friend mentioned that the way she planned her holiday shopping this year was that each payday starting in January, she would buy gift cards that would also net her money off on her gasoline (Fuelperks).  When it came time to buy presents, she had sufficient funds to do her shopping, the gifts would be returnable if the recipient could not use the item because it was purchased just before Christmas.  She was, in effect, creating a Christmas Club without the use of a bank.  I thought that was ingenious!

One of the things I do is to purchase an ornament each year for nieces and nephews, also some for friends.  (Yes, I also make some.)  But I realized that if I wanted to, I could purchase Hallmark gift cards, good at any Hallmark store, then when the wish book comes out in June or July, I could plan purchases.  (I am using Hallmark as an example since their ornaments are popular and pretty universally known.)

 I have suggested to family members that we who live near each other get together perhaps once a month to craft together -- not necessarily that everyone be working on the same craft, but just to be in the same rooms together to talk and visit.  Sort of like a quilting bee -- a crafting bee?  It would also be a chance to learn from each other, and the younger ones could learn skills that the older ones could pass on.  Sounds like it could be the start of a nice Family Tradition!

Part of how I celebrate Christmas will depend upon if Mom dies or not during 2009. Sorry to sound morbid, but it will have a bearing on what I do.

If Mom has died, I won't be eating Christmas lunch at the nursing home.

If Mom's died, I would be eating Christmas dinner at home if I hadn't been invited somewhere. Yes, I probably could afford to go out to eat if I'd budgeted for it or I had a zero balance on my MasterCard. My choices would be Colonial Williamsburg (very expensive option) or another place like The Whitehall in Williamsburg (expensive but elegant option), or Mexican (cheap option).

Knowing me, I would most likely eat at home. In the past I've gone to The Tides Inn Resort (worth it one year & terrible choice the next time I went); I've eaten at The Cascades which was operated by Colonial Williamsburg (closed now, but a nice option); I've gone to The Whitehall (very expensive and absolutely worth the money); and I've eaten Mexican before in Newport News.

The year after we ate at The Whitehall we ordered Harris Teeter's prime rib dinner for $49.95. The first year it was wonderful. We had it for both Thanksgiving and for Christmas. The next year (2006) we had it for Thanksgiving and the food was awful. In 2006 Mom was sick and she ate red Jello and I heated up a beef dinner from Home Bistro. The Home Bistro meal was a lot better than the Harris Teeter Thanksgiving dinner.

I would probably opt to cook as I love the Meat Department at Harris Teeter. The beef is wonderful. If I wanted to be more frugal, I would go the pasta routine like a lasagna and a salad with garlic bread. Another option would be to cook German food and have sauerbraten with potato dumplings and red cabbage. That would involve shopping at Harris Teeter.

It wouldn't be an option as it would be closed, but I would enjoy going out to eat for good Chinese food or to one of those Japanese places.

I would try to stay upbeat and not get depressed. I would forget that I had not been included in the family meal at the cousin's house (the cousin who says that I am not a member of the family anymore).

I would make sure that I'd bought Aurora her favorite kitty toys for Christmas as well as her special kitty foods.

I would also try to be able to attend a Christmas service at church.

If I could change one thing, it would be DH and I have a budget and shop together. He went off on his own and spent money and I had the "budgeted" money.  We had no problem finding gifts, and bought more than we should have.   

Dear VN,

When I read your post and saw you mention the Cascades, I just had to reply. I loved the escalloped oysters that the Cascades served on their breakfast buffet. Sorry to hear that it is now closed.

DL