Have you all switched to the new blogger? Is that why there have been all the template changes and general sprucing up? I am reluctant to switch, is it really better? I am not really good with change.
You know how when you go on a diet and it's a little rocky at first but you ar motivated to do everything right. Then you get going along really well, doing just fine, and you are feeling strong so you tell yourself you are allowed to have ONE cookie, you are only going to have one, but then you really have three? So then you try to get over the guilt and you tell yourself that tomorrow you will be better. But the next day someone offers you cheesecake and your first reaction is "What the hell, I had 3 cookies yesterday, it's not like I am really sticking to the diet, I will just have the cheesecake and then start over again." And then suddenly it's 3 weeks later and you are kicking yourself for still having weight to lose? I kinda feel that way about bending my "blog every day" rules. And I shouldn't because it's a blog and I only do it for fun and it's not that big of a deal. But I couldn't go to bed tonight without blogging. So I am now clinging to the precipice of the rules by my guilty little fingertips.
*sigh*
Anyway, I've started the Christmas shopping and I am trying to get it all done as early as possible. I've found that I enjoy the season a lot more once I get the presents taken care of (or at least ordered/ planned for). I'm really thankful that our extended families both do name drawings for gifts. That alone saves so much stress and money. My side does 2 circles of drawings; the "adults" - my dad and his brothers, and the "kids" - which is me, my sister and the cousins. Now that the kids have kids, we haven't yet added a third circle, but we probably could soon. We always set a $25 limit, but this year the idea has been brought up to let people opt out of the drawing if they want to, since out of my cousins there are now 4 of us with young babies, and 3 who are in college, 1 without a job, and the rest not having all that much cashflow anyway. I haven't decided yet if I am going to take them up on opting out. Probably should, but I hate giving up the idea of gifts. I love presents! It's not greed, I honestly just like the festivity of it all. If we are in, we'd be added to the "adult" circle, which I imagine would be a lot like being promoted to the grown-up table.
Dude's side is similar with the name drawing- they have similar rules too, which is how I knew we could be married. Except they draw names intergenerationally. Even so, I always seem to draw the same two or three people. My mom's side used to do a "only buy for the kids" thing, but there was always some sort of debate over who was or wasn't a "kid" and it was a royal mess. So then it was "no gifts" - but some asshat always went and got gifts anyway, which made everyone else feel bad and it was a royal mess. So now, we try not to go there.
So what do you do to solve the gift thing in your family? Are there any new ideas? Someone once told me they play the dice game for Christmas and steal presents from each other, but I can't remember who it was.
November 14, 2006
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9 comments:
The new Blogger seems fine, except it keeps making me log in, and twice at that. I think I just need to change my bookmark, but I haven't gotten around to that.
We draw names among the folks, siblings and siblings-in-law. You get to buy whatever you want for the kids, but since there's just two of them, it's not hard. I drew my Dad this year, which is about the worst, since his birthday is the day before.
The Butaks deal with the Christmas dilemma by ignoring as much of the family as possible during the holidays. Cousins? Psha! Distant relations. Who're they again? Never heard of 'em. Mom, dad, and sisters don't exchange gifts, but we buy stuff for the kids (or grandkids, as the case may be. The nephews stopped being "the kids" once they became fathers and/or felons).
On Puck's side, I just let him do all the work. (Yes, yes, I'm a bad wife, blah blah blah.)
For extended family, my dad's side doesn't do anything, probably because they're so dang many of them, and I think that's the case for Mr. Kluges's family, too. My mom's side is smaller, but has always been more spread out and has never done a lot with holidays.
But we do presents with our folks, my siblings (but not his by mutual agreement), and the few third generation kids. There aren't too many, so it works out fine, but it's not uncommon for us kids to get together on presents to get something a little nicer or if we only have one good idea between the lot of us! :) But I need to get moving on my Xmas stuff with the whole shipping business... Hmmm... maybe I should quit looking at blogs at pull up Amazon.com...
Oh, and I TOTALLY know what you mean with the whole diet analogy! That is _exactly_ how my mind works, too.
If Pusher's a bad wife, then so am I. Jaysan's got to take care of his side of the family and I take care of mine.
As far as who buys for who, Jaysan's side always talks about options (including having Chirstmas in July), but rarely does anything about it. He generally buys for his siblings and the neices and nephews get nadda. I buy for my siblings and mom and grandparents (usually -- they don't want/need stuff, so it's tricky with them). I would totally do a name drawing thing with my siblings, but the younger sister won't hear of it. And there would have to be a minimum set (yes, that was minimum, not maximum). Gah!
Mom's sibilings draw names in that generation, though guys draw guy's names and girls draw girl's names (including in-laws). There's like 7 of them + 7 in-laws, so that works out fine.
My family does the same as yours AKJ, The older generation draws amongst themselves and the cousins likewise. Hmmm...my cousin just had a baby. I wonder what that means....
On my dad's side there are so few of us we get gists for all but food and stuff are allowed.
On the hubby's side the cousins are all couples and we are a single unit so we have Wendy and Brian and some couple has us. Seems reasonable.
I have a few gifts for Mom and Dad and that is it so far....so much to do...
We draw names on the Pants side of the family and set a dollar amount, but we also buy for the kids - Pants' neices and now our kids. And although every year someone breaks down and buys for everyone, I don't and I refuse to feel bad about it. We also play the dice game, although now it is for $10 gift cards, since $10 presents are so hard to buy that will work for men and women. You can only own so many flashlights and soft-side coolers.
We do the whole damn thing on my side, although it's just my mom and stepdad and then my dad and his family.
And yes, I like Blogger in Beta, you don't have to know so much HTML. Unlike Kashka, HTML is not my bitch.
We do reasonably priced gifts for the kids in our families. Lewis' side does nothing. My side does a $30 gift and then we either draw cards or use dice and steal and swap. Lewis and I usually buy gifts that we want and try to get them; but we usually get in trouble...SURPRISE!
ah-Ha! I knew I knew someone that did the steal and swap thing. Dudes coworkers do a gift thing like that too- though 99% of those gifts are liquor. This year we should bring something we plan to steal back- that is genius.
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