number4 posted 12/2/2020 21:32 PM

I am WAAAAAAAY ahead of the game, more so than I've been in my entire life. Mostly due to COVID.

I usually feel good if I get my holiday cards sent out by January 1st (usually do them after Christmas). They went in the mail on Monday. I didn't send any out last year, so I needed to get them out early this year so I could give people our new address.

Today I wrapped 15 presents! I have to send eight of those to D and her fiancé in Boston, so I wanted to get my shopping done early, so I could get them wrapped and shipped in time to arrive well before Christmas. This will be the first Christmas she's spent without us. 😢

I still have five more gifts waiting to be delivered, hopefully in the next week, but I am done with shopping. D in Boston is shipping our gifts to D here, and is shipping D's gifts here to our house, so we can each wrap each other's presents, and deliver them to each other. So I will have those gifts to wrap when they arrive. But I'm 90% done with wrapping.

I still need to put together holiday cards and cash for service people... gardener, Pilates teacher, personal trainer and housekeeper. In the past, I also put that off until the week before Christmas. Actually, since I don't see my Pilates teacher or personal trainer in person, I might just Venmo them the money.

I usually do our annual charitable giving December 30th or 31st, but hope to get that done next week.

We got our Christmas tree up on Sunday, but still have other decorations to get up, maybe this weekend. Not sure I'm going to put everything up this year since it will be an abbreviated Christmas with D who lives nearby. They usually go to her H's family's place about five hours from here, but that is being canceled this year, so they will come over long enough to unwrap presents and eat dinner.

But I'm feeling pretty impressed about how organized I am this year; too bad it's for the wrong reasons. Maybe I just want the holidays to be over because it means 2021 is around the corner, and it HAS to be better, right?

tushnurse posted 12/3/2020 11:09 AM

Congrats!!!!
I'm nearly done too, but that's only because my child is home from school until Sunday. We are doing our Xmas celebration Saturday.

dontsaylovely posted 12/3/2020 16:39 PM

I'm way ahead this year also (due to Covid). Sister in U.S. can't easily get home for Christmas so gifts purchased way early, wrapped, shipped & received! Combined Mom's 94th bday with early Christmas visit, gifts purchased wrapped & opened. No family Christmas gathering this year.

But now feeling letdown. Tree up, decos done but for no one but WH and I. If I didn't love Christmas probably wouldn't have bothered. Don't know/haven't decided what to do with friend Christmas presents. Purchased, not wrapped. Can't visit with them so porch drop off? Not really want I want. Maybe wait until "worst" is over and have a celebration then? Only bought early as I had to get sister done and am limiting my time out as much as possible.

All different but suppose best to do is be thankful for what we do have and not focus on what we can't do.

Jeaniegirl posted 12/3/2020 16:57 PM

I'm jealous! I did manage to put up a 4 foot pre-lit Christmas tree and hang a wreath on the door.

newlife03 posted 12/3/2020 17:24 PM

Impressive! I'm about 1/3 of the way done with shopping but I usually don't get started with a plan til early December so that's actually good for me! Got my tree, just need to decorate it and keep it alive for 22 more days!

number4 posted 12/3/2020 18:25 PM

Maybe wait until "worst" is over and have a celebration then?

I wonder how many people will be doing Christmas in July this year??? It could be a real thing.

Lionne posted 12/4/2020 12:48 PM

I'll do Christmas at Christmas, sans my sister and most likely one son. We are doing a celebration with my sister this weekend, we are calling it Festivus. We also honor Hanukkah in remembrance of my Jewish dad.
I do enjoy the fuss, the baking, the chintzy lights, etc. I never do more than I want to, take shortcuts if I choose. That said, there are certain traditions I like to keep even if no one else cares. Everybody appreciates whatever is done, with or without a favorite food.
I am just about done except for cooking, and much of that is started, frozen or dough ready to bake. I have skipped decorating my dollhouse but may choose to do that this week. It's more complex than it may sound.
If my far away son can't come, we'll project him onto the TV in Zoom. He was looking forward to our traditions on Christmas morning but we'll make do and feel blessed by health and happiness.
I am hoping I'll have a grandchild next Christmas! Wouldn't that be the best? But I'm keeping my mouth firmly closed.

number4 posted 12/11/2020 14:42 PM

I'm still waiting on one more gift to arrive on Monday, then wrap it, and I will be done!

I learned a lesson this year. I should have sent gifts for daughter, to her fiancé for him to wrap. And sent gifts for him, to her for her to wrap. Because by the time I wrapped them all and boxed them up to send them across the country, it cost me $100!!! That included insurance. We went to UPS first, and they wouldn't insure the box without unpacking it and packing it themselves, for which they charged $30 (for a total of $135). So that's when we went to USPS. I didn't even send it priority mail; it will take a week to get there, which is perfectly fine with me. But that's $100 I could have saved by having gifts sent directly from the vendor to the significant other.

D who lives across the country, had gifts for local D and her H sent to us ( I wrapped them), and sent gifts for me and H to local D for her to wrap. Smart move on her part. Saved a ton on shipping!

We are in major lockdown here in CA - not supposed to gather with anyone outside of your immediate household. So we may not have D and her H come over for Christmas, even though we bought an outdoor heater for our patio with the hopes we could have them over, and stay outside on the patio. I think what we may try to do is... do a Zoom party while all of us open our gifts from the others.