Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Not Again…

No way is this happening again.

100 Days Until Christmas!!!

Does this fact stress you out like it does me?

Ahhhhhh!   Can I just skip it this year?  I mean who really needs this pressure anyway.

If I didn’t have little ones who believe in magic I might be tempted.  But I do have kids and I so want them to hold onto that magic.  I find the harder life gets the more I need it too.

No I haven’t forgotten Halloween and Thanksgiving.  You’ll see me go overboard with those holidays as well

Once again I’ll be doing my holiday countdown.  Setting superhuman moderate holiday goals for the week and trying to pull them off without going Looney, and driving my family insane. 

I’m also going to match last years goal of Halloween (custom costumes for all eight of us & calorie-free goodies) for less than $100. 

Plus – Do you want to hear my goal for Christmas.  Six kids, 1 Hubby, 14 siblings, Parents, Neighbors and Friends, 1 dog, and a gazillion other things that have flown from my mind for the present...  all for the measly amount of $200.00 or less.  That’s it.  Not a penny more (I can dream, Can’t I?).  I guess that means I’ll finally be using all the sewing and crafting stuff I’ve been collecting over the past couple of decades.

Shah!  Don’t tell Prince Erik, he’ll have me committed for sure.  I know it might not be a realistic goal but it is practical for the situation we are going through.  Plus there’s nothing like a little challenge to light a little fire under my backside to get me creatively motivated into action.

I might not meet the goal, but I’ll give it a good old-fashioned try.  And let you know my triumphs and failures along the way.

First thing on my list.  Pull out the Holiday Planner and give it a go-over.  Click on the picture to see how I made it

holiday planner

Every Tuesday I’ll list my new weeks goals.  You can join in (PLEASE) and give me suggestions as well. 

More than anything I want this Holiday Season to be about Love and Family.   Because if I met all my other goals, but I didn’t have my Family or the Love there everything else would be meaningless. 

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Really you had to go and tell me that?! :)

Anonymous said...

Wow. I'm cheering you on from the bleachers! $200 or less? Go Fawn!

laterg8r said...

i looove christmas - sorry :D

however, i do have a few tips for spending less.

1. check your air miles and points cards (zellers etc) to see how many points you have and buy gifts with your points (FREEEEEE) Check them in late oct/early nov so you can get your gifts in time for xmas.

2. make gifts and have your kids make gifts. my girls each made a few xmas ornaments for every relative last year (mostly) from stuff i already had in my craft stash.

3. for the kids, wrap everything in their stocking separately. a roll of lifesavers, nail polish, crayons, cool panties (whatever). it makes it seem like they got more and use lots of tape so it takes forever to get in LOL! :D

fawndear said...

Awesome comments D. I am actually going to be using free cards saved from points accrude on certain cards we have. And the kids and I are going to making tons of homemade gifts. I just need to get started now so I leave myself time to do it all.

Staci Z said...

My favorite holiday tradition...re-gifting. What a money saver!

Love the idea of $200 or under.

debi9kids said...

OMGOSH! I wasn't stressing until now! Really? Just 100 days??? YIKES!

Mother Ship + inFINcible said...

This Christmas we are choosing a charity and giving our money to it instead of buying stuff nobody needs and mailing it across the country to our siblings and their kids. They will get a card that says a donation has been made in their name - hell I'll even give them tax receipts!

This year we choose: Operation Smile -check it out it's an awesome cause.

Janell said...

I'm looking forward to seeing your updates! I love finding ways to simplify at Christmas, although I do agree that to do it more meaningfully and inexpensively, you do have to start early! In our extended families, we rotate names, so we don't have to get something for everyone every year (we both come from relatively big families).

I just finished obtaining Halloween costumes for my kids for $22 total. But ... I only have two kids. Ha!

Oh, also. I LOVE the idea of giving to charity for a gift, but I'm still a little bit squeamish about doing it for extended family. I think some of them might not totally appreciate it. But with my family, and for those who I think WILL appreciate it, I definitely want to do some of that this year.

Great post! (And sorry for such a long comment!)

❀~Myrna~❀ said...

I'll be here cheering you on also. I know you are talented &I think you can do it.8-)
~Myrna
ps you are inspiring me.

The Trio said...

Fawn, you are awesome! I told my kids today (and I didn't even mention the S.... word). Their eyes bugged out of their head when one of them did the math. The exact comment was "that is about a $10 gift card per person". Like I said, he hadn't even figured in the other component since he still believes. Although tonight I think he finally figured out there is no actual tooth fairy...drats (it is because he lost a tooth camping last night and I wasn't there). I AM TOTALLY ROOTING FOR YOU!!!!

I believe in regifting and CLEARANCE CLEARANCE SALES....coupons always save me.

Jane said...

Im really looking forward to your post about saving for christmas. Im in the same boat : ) Which means I need to get started also : )