Santa's been Christmas shopping! Every year, Mike + I go to our local grocery + drugstores after Christmas and pick up some of their steeply marked down toys for next year's Toys for Tots. We make sure not to get anything with batteries, candy or other perishable stuff in them and store them in plastic bags, and next year they're nice and clean and ( Read more... )

I really love our scheme of buying on-sale toys year-round and saving them for Toys for Tots. Today's find: Grocery store w/shopping cart full of stuffed toy dogs, dirt cheap. We just pushed the whole cart to the checkout + bought 'em all. ;)

AFTER Christmas, go to large supermarkets and drugstores. These places don't usually sell toys. and they'll want to get rid of their Christmas stock. Buy toys 1/2+ off. Store in plastic bags until next Christmas. Donate to Toys for Tots.
We got 13 big stuffed animals, 3 puzzles, 2 art sets and a doll for < $6/child ( Read more... )

Back from a wonderful at my parents' house. Last night we went to the Candlelight Service at church. (All the kids are old enough to hold candles already!) One of my nephews fell asleep on my lap for a bit during What Child Is This, the way his mother did a generation ago ( Read more... )

Off to my parents' house later. Tonight: 10PM candlelight service with my mom's bell choir. Tomorrow: Pandemonium, only substitute "all presents" for "all demons." ;)

Happy Holidays!

That was a wonderful Christmas ( Read more... )

Many years ago, my brother-in-law roasted a goose for Christmas dinner. I loved it. A few months ago, when my sister asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I jokingly said "Well, you could ask Brother-in Law to roast another goose ( Read more... )

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it, and joy of the season to everybody!

I still haven't got my cards out, but I bought some. The tree's up. There are carols on the radio. I've bought some presents for Tech Support. And it's snowing ( Read more... )

That was a nice Christmas, despite the fact that I lost a filling on Christmas and we can't find a dentist available until after the New Year. The church did a bonus Hallelujah Chorus after the Christmas Eve service ended, and the weather was perfect. I got to see my first live possum on my parents' porch ( Read more... )