Holiday Insight and Wisdom

[tiredmommy]

I thought we might start a list of insights about the holidays we've all gained throughout the years. Serious, hilarious, sarcastic... they all belong here.
I have three to contribute:
*Never (ever!!!) leave your Thanksgiving turkey on the counter unattended if you have a cat in the house. :bag:
*Always hide the hard stuff if Mommy Dearest will be visiting. :smile:
*Let the little things slide, it makes for a better day for everyone. :warrior:

 

[Kathy813]

How about. . .

No matter how clever you think you are when hiding presents a determined difficult child will find them.

:rofl: :xgift: :xgift: :rofl:

~Kathy

 

[tiredmommy]

See, I leave most of Duckie's gifts sitting in bags on a high shelf in the basement and tell her they're for cousins while her gifts at the neighbor's house! :rofl:

 

[I'm going crazy!!!]

we have a storage space and that's where all of his goes
this year he's getting a bunk bed i thought maybe he could spend the night with either my mom or aunt and then we could put the bed up and go get him in the morning any ideas i definetly want him sleeping in it Christmas night

 

[Fran]

Take naps. Very important.

If husband is dressing up like Santa, be sure the neighbors know. As santa ran through the back yard to sneak into our house, the neighbors kids were so excited to see the "real" santa. Made the parents a little nervous. :santa:

 

[Kathy813]

But, TM, Duckie is only six. That won't work too much longer.

:rofl: :rofl:

I have to admit that my difficult child comes by it honestly. My parents used to wrap our presents and put them under the tree a few days before Christmas. There wasn't a present that I didn't unwrap and wrap again when I was a kid. I was so good at it that you couldn't even tell.

:bag:

~Kathy

 

[Marcie Mac]

All presents are wrapped and kept in my office till Xmas eve. difficult child at almost 24 is still relentless begging "Let me open just one, pleaaasseeee" if they are under the tree any earlier, and I know that both boys (and SO) will be tearing a piece of wrapping paper off just to see, or shaking them to see if they can guess.

As to things learned, don't put candy in stockings or in packages because dogs, with their keen sense of smell, in the middle of the night, while you are sleeping, after they have raided their doggie stockings, will manage to sniff out the other goodies.

Last year when the gkids were living here, we left the cookies on the counter with milk for Santa. SO work up at 4:30 in the morning yelling omg, what did the dogs eat- to say they were a little gassy was putting it mildly..

Marcie

 

[hearts and roses]

Marcie - I am so with you on keeping snacks up high! Our old dog once sniffed out the Easter candy I hid behind my book shelf. Then he prceeded to come out to our newly purchased cream white persian carpet and projectile vomit marshmallow chocolates everywhere!! Ugh. One year our little Nala ate all the chocolate coins that were for the the stockings...I had laid them out on the table and forgot about them.

I like the taking a nap thing, but my mind is usually racing so fast I can't settle down.

What helps me keep it together is to do as much cooking or kitchen prep ahead of time as possible. I will be starting my holiday cookie baking this week while easy child is still here and freeze some to be decorated just before Christmas. We do it every year and it saves me so much last minute time.

Also, stock up on household staples so you don't run out while company is visiting, like toilet paper, tissues, soaps, (sanitary supplies), laundry soap, etc.

And finally, DELEGATE, DELEGATE, DELEGATE.

 

[tiredmommy]

We can't put bows or ribbon on any gifts until just before giving because our oldest kitty eats them. :xgift:

 

[Hound dog]

Don't use icicles on the tree if you have a puppy in the house. Don't ask me why, but the darn things seem to attract them and eaten can cause some massive bowel trouble or horrible messes to clean up. This can also go for kittens, and grown cats and dogs prone to such things.

We had a beagle years ago that decided he loved the icicles on the tree. Cleaning up several large disgusting tangled masses was enough to cure me of icicles forever.

No candy canes or stringing popcorn in the house if you have dogs. (I don't believe Nichole asked to string popcorn this year....Uh, NO!)

If you have a live tree, make sure to keep pet water bowls filled at all times to prevent them from drinking the tree water.

Make sure to used different paper and handwriting on anything from Santa. Even little kids notice details. This is where being ambidextrius comes in handy. I always wrote tags and letters from Santa with my left hand so the handwriting was sompletely different. Kept them fooled for years. lol

TM I'm going to have to remember that about the bows and ribbons. I bet our adopted kitten Bruce will try that this year.

:santa: :gingerbread: :snowman:

 

[guest3]

<<<HUGS>>> you're always welcome here :spaghetti: I make a mean meataball

 

[Big Bad Kitty]

Lisa, you made a good point about the handwriting.

I use one special wrapping paper and special tags from Santa too. I guess when I was 5, I called my mom on it. "How does Santa have the same wrapping paper as us, Mommy?" From then on, she bought wrap that she hid from us kids, special from Santa, and now I know to do it too.

Copper would not have caught it, but Tink would have. When she was two years old.

*sigh* this is probably Tink's last year...

 

[flutterbee]

I solved the wrapping paper and gift tag dilemma by explaining that if Santa wrapped the present in the North Pole, they would be all smashed and torn by the time they got here. So, the elves wrap the presents at our house using our paper. Had to think quick on that one as I was about to get busted by 4 year old easy child. Both of my kids believed until 6th grade...although I think difficult child knew before but was smart enough to figure out that if she were only getting presents from one person (as opposed to me AND Santa) she might not get as many. :xgift: :shopping: My girl is all about quantity! :wink:

Onto what I've learned:

Don't hang ornaments from the bottom 2 rows of branches of the Christmas tree if you have kitties.

Kitties really like to hang out in the middle of the tree...doesn't matter that it's artificial.

You can spend 8 hours decorating the tree, but it only takes a kitty 5 minutes to dismantle it.

You can make reindeer food by smashing up crackers and adding some carrots and glitter. (The glitter is what makes the reindeer fly.)

Do all your visiting with family in the days before Christmas. Trying to tear difficult child's away from the new toys just isn't worth it.

 

[I'm going crazy!!!]

we dont wrap santa's gifts that way there is no questions besides my son wouldn't really care who it was from as long as he got gifts lol

 

[SRL]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: tiredmommy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">*Never (ever!!!) leave your Thanksgiving turkey on the counter unattended if you have a cat in the house. :bag:</div></div>

Ditto with the ham if you have a resident or visiting dog. We have one Christmas that is known in our family as "The year Maggie ate the ham."

Don't bother spending hours to make gingerbread men to hang on your Christmas tree if you live in a humid area because if it rains you may wake up to find a collection of dead gingerbread men lying beneath the tree.

Locked suitcases make great hiding places for gifts.

Make Christmas Milk often for the kids in your life. Add a few drops of red or green food coloring to milk and serve in a Christmas glass along with a straw.

If you really must get into it with father in law on Christmas Day for his criticism of your handling of difficult child, do the thing right so he'll never mess with you again. :devil:

 

[1905]

I wrap all presents right after buying, then I put an "initial" on the package. It's usually the third initial of their middle name- or something they won't figure out. I put them right under the tree with all the cousins gifts, etc..Then it's out in plain sight, but they don't know. The night before- I fix it. Nobody has ever figured out I do this. -Alyssa

 

[tiredmommy]

I think it's especially important to try to find a way for children to think outside themselves during the Christmas season. It can be difficult, but is really worthwhile. :gingerbread:
We started having Duckie do some chores around the house to "earn" the right to give a gift to charity each year. I've been pleasantly surprised at how much she wants to help those less fortunate than herself. This year, it was a toy she would have loved for herself. :xgift: Plus she's earning 25 cents a day through Christmas Eve to buy mosquito netting and other needed supplies for children in third world countries with the Sunday School. :angel:

 

[meowbunny]

Another one who does (yes, still!) the separate wrapping paper for Santa.

There is nowhere in the house I can hide a gift. All have to be doled out to neighbors and friends and collected Christmas eve, to be wrapped Christmas morning since she'll sleep in and I'm up by 5:00 am. That's the only safe time!

Don't expect eggnog, ginger ale, apple cider or any special drink to make it to Christmas day with a difficult child around. If it's a treat, it should be eaten and drunk as soon as possible! Even had to send her to store to get OJ on Thanksgiving morning so I could make my sweet potatoes -- she drank the bottle I'd bought on Tuesday.

Don't tell your guests when your kitty has nibbled at the food -- just cut the chunk out and pretend you're a bad carver.

When you have too many guests than planned for, don't worry -- give everyone a mini-plate of food and then tell 'em to scrounge what they can find. They won't care! They're there for you, not for your food!

Relax and have fun! The perfect Christmas is usually the one with one major mishap, one dish that totally didn't come out right, a mini fight at the table, one kid whining about not getting enough after having opened presents non-stop for 45 minutes, a precious item broken by accident by the toddler and a house filled with laughter through it all.

 

[I'm going crazy!!!]

TM I love the idea of "earning the right to give a gift to charity". That's awesome I'll try that with my son maybe the right to give candy canes out at the nursing homes.

 

[Kjs]

I had to tell BOTH my boys. It was heartbreaking to see their heart broken. :crying: They were gettin too old, and the kids at school would of made things so much worse.

difficult child asked so many times. When we asked what he thought he said, "I know it can't be true...but I know you guys could never afford to get us all those things..so yep, it is true." ::

He has since that awful day of truth, told us how much he appreciated what we had to do for that to happen. :xgift:

Good thing he didn't have the concept of the plastic card then. :shopping:

easy child took it the hardest.