Christmas Shopping 2022

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halimer

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Aug 30, 2008
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We love our upright. The chest freezer was just too difficult to use.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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We love our upright. The chest freezer was just too difficult to use.
I agree. We were gifted a chest freezer and although I am grateful it is not what I would have chosen.
 

Minta

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When we get the upright up freezer we will be keeping the chest freezer too .. it will be perfect to store the bigger items like whole turkeys and chickens, turkey breasts and hams. I am putting money aside now to stock up on the turkeys later this year when they are cheap LOL.
 
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Lori K

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Vanilla, either buy or make your own.
Or find a friend who lives in a border town in TX, near where your mom's place is, and she volunteers to get you a large bottle from just across the border, and send it home with her sister who is a friend of your sister ... problem solved. ;-) Totally confused? My sister works with a woman who moved north from Harlingen, TX. Her family still lives in TX and whenever she goes home to visit, she takes an order for vanilla. My sister knew I needed a bottle of dark vanilla (from our trip down to check on Mom's place). They got a LARGE quart-size bottle for my sister, who gave it to me over the weekend. I think I'm set for the next 5+ years.
 

Lori K

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There is usually a wide variety of red paper and foil goods around Independence Day, and lots of long-life condiments. A good time to stock up on those and the red color goes well with the Christmas holidays. As an aside, I typically buy the Christmas M&Ms when they go on sale after the holiday and then separate them into zip-locks for my candy dish and baking -- red for Valentine's Day and green for St. Patrick's Day.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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There is usually a wide variety of red paper and foil goods around Independence Day, and lots of long-life condiments. A good time to stock up on those and the red color goes well with the Christmas holidays. As an aside, I typically buy the Christmas M&Ms when they go on sale after the holiday and then separate them into zip-locks for my candy dish and baking -- red for Valentine's Day and green for St. Patrick's Day.
This is very wise. The last few years I have been looking at "multi purpose" items. For example, greeting cards, I now look at generic floral cards that can be used for Birthdays, sympathy or thinking of you cards.
I look at lollies and chocolates when they are around for holidays and see if I can stock up. For Halloween they stock the small "fun sized" chocolates at a good price. If they are suitable I often buy them for Easter baskets.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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Need to sit and plan other events that we will be hosting prior to Christmas.
I would love to gather in July for a family meal. Maybe not Christmas in July but a family (Winter) BBQ!. Will put out feelers and see what people think.
 

Ahorsesoul

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Oct 13, 2007
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I have not been doing much Christmas shopping. Usually by now I have many ideas. We do have both DS and DGS a remote control car that has tracks so they can be driven in the snow for Christmas so I guess I really do not need to shop much.
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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I am making progress and doing well considering we are only in May.
As part of my CIJ plans I will double check menu plans, lists, supplies purchased and see where I am at.
I always fear running out so I always tend to over cater so I know that I will be alright in the end. My attempts to cut back year after year go south towards the end of the year when I get all excited about meals and gifts etc.
 

Holiday_Mom

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I am making progress and doing well considering we are only in May.
As part of my CIJ plans I will double check menu plans, lists, supplies purchased and see where I am at.
I always fear running out so I always tend to over cater so I know that I will be alright in the end. My attempts to cut back year after year go south towards the end of the year when I get all excited about meals and gifts etc.
I know what you mean. Those post-Christmas/Holiday notes on what work/didn't work are so worthwhile. Sometimes I forget to look at them. A few years I printed them out and put them in my recipe binder. I ought to do that or at least put a note in the recipe binder about looking at the notes.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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Mary, you are quite right. I write notes about what worked and what didn't and then disregard the notes. Need to look at this again.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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I have added a very small CIJ lunch. Will not need too much for this as the invitees will be sharing. I will think about what to serve and add it to the list.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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Heading into the 6th month of the year, can you believe it?
I need to look over lists and plans, this will be a part of my CIJ planning. Just need to check if I am on track and where I need to tweak.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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As part of my CIJ plans I wanted to look at what items I have stored already and what I need to add to the shopping list. I think we have 11 fortnightly shops left until Christmas so I divided what was left to purchase over those next 11 weeks. The good news is it looks like I have bought more than what is left to buy so pleased with that.

Will start looking at what I might need for the Summer stockpile very soon.
 

halimer

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Aug 30, 2008
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I ordered hand cream for DS and DDIL and a t-shirt for DS.

Wire brushes from $Tree for DH's stocking. I will get him a large sponge again this year.
 

Minta

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Order DH 2 Christmas gifts. Macys is having a CIJ sale going on.
 

Lori K

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Order DH 2 Christmas gifts. Macys is having a CIJ sale going on.
Oh, thanks for posting this! I need to get to Macy's for summer clearance and to pick up a few Christmas gifts.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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CIJ is nearly over and we have a month until we hit Spring here. Once we hit the BER months I find that the time just flies by. I am determined to use the days of August to get myself as prepared as I can be heading into the last few months of the year.
I need to look over my planner and lists and see where I am up to.
 

jampss

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Oct 24, 2007
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I have been catching up on CIJ and getting inspired for shopping and food planning. I had to go make a cup of hot chocolate mixed with a cup of coffee! YUM :)
 

Whusky

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Jun 7, 2022
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I have not thought about Christmas in about a month!
This year, my little family (dh, dd11, dd10, and I) are doing a "secret Santa" for stockings.
We're on a budget this year, and we're following the -
"Something you want
Something you need
Something to wear
Something to read".


I've got dd10, so I've got her Lego (something she wants), a notebook and pens (something she needs).
I'm thinking of getting her a coin purse - (that's*technically* a wearable item, right?) And a book, which is easy!