I've noticed that by the day after Christmas I'm ready to ditch all of the Christmassy things and I think it's because of the saturation in stores, radio, etc.

So next year I believe that I will plan any needs and store trips for Nov-mid-January to be finished in October so that I can completely avoid the stores. Completely. Seriously. My only shopping outings will be for grocery items and even those I'm hoping to avoid. Holidays have become so tacky! Inflatable fat guys, Vegas-esque lights and music... yuck! If I can manage NOT to leave the house I'd be happy.

My kids and I received a large amount of money from someone for Kwanzaa this week. :lol: (the giver told me not to refer to it as Christmas money but Kwanzaa money) and wanted to go spend some of it before socking the rest into savings. Ugh. The stores are jammed with "savings" and "deals". It's so easy to get suckered into the "what a great deal... even if I don't need it!" I didn't get anything that we didn't need (besides the kids picking out their own things- Maggie's socks, playing cards and a board game) but I was so tempted.

. If I can manage NOT to leave the house I'd be happy.


I hear you mama. Stores, especially malls make me physically sick.

I did almost all Christmas shopping online this year - worked out great! Will do the same thing next year :) Little planning, dealtaker.com, collectionsetc.com and amazon.com - I was set.

Sounds great! I did that this year - was done by end of October. Really, really done - okay I did sneak into ONE toy store with dh for the present he was supposed to get for ds but put off. But that was it.

The few gifts I procrastinated on (was going to handcraft them) I ended up buying at amazon.com.

I tell ya, it felt WONDERFUL not to go into a store in December. That one trip just made me feel all frazzly and crazy inside.