Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Must. Stop. Spending.

I have to quit spending money on the holidays. On the other hand, I ordered an awesome Johnny Cash t-shirt for Kitten last night from pacifieronline.com.

Other recent purchases:
Christmas tree skirt (needed)
Giant stocking to hold Christmas cards (not needed)
Stocking stuffers (debatable)
Faucet cover for bath (needed, also from pacifier)
Majorette Daisy ornament from several years ago, part of a Mickey marching band series that we own the rest of, for Pants's Mickey tree (needed?)
Poinsettia Fairy ornament from series that began last year, which I am purchasing for the girls each year for their trees, and which Meimei did not get for Christmas last year due to her non-existence at the time (or at least my ignorance of her existence, as apparently she did indeed exist by Christmas), and which has almost doubled in value (?)
Wreath (needed, and half off)
Wired Ribbon for wreath (needed and cheaper than the premade wreath ribbons)
Other assorted Christmas tree ornaments and stuff, like boxes to separate stuff for trees (four trees in this house), wreath hanger for door, etc. etc. blah blah blah.

So my commitment not to spend much for Christmas this year is already in the toilet, right next to my commitment not to eat the whole box of turtles I ordered from the kid next door in one sitting. And I haven't even bought anything for my SIL (my name from the gift draw, although I know what I'm getting her), any of my parents, or my step-siblings except one gift card for the newly-married couple, which I may just use for myself and get them the same thing that the other married couple is getting, which is a breakfast gift pack with pancake mix, syrup, coffee, and one or two other things. Cheaper than a gift card, which always looks cheap if you only put $15 or $20 bucks on it for a couple, and it follows the Simplify Your Christmas rule of getting consumables for people you don't know what to buy for.

Dear God, this season is expensive when you are cooped up at home and itching to get out and spend.

Two more expenses: Meimei's rescheduled three-month pictures today and our "free" Antiquities picture sitting next week. Plus finishing Meimei's announcements and getting stamps on all of those and all of the Christmas cards. And no, they won't fit in the same envelope, that was already suggested to me.

8 comments:

Ms. Huis Herself said...

FOUR trees! Dang! We've just got our teeny tiny single one here!

At least living here I'm not nearly as tempted to spend on seasonal stuff because 1) we have NO storage and 2) we are planning on moving back to the States someday so I might as well wait and get it at Target in another year or whenever.

I miss Target.

Allknowingjen said...

I soooo know what you mean. Which reminds me, Target owes me because the stocking holders I bought there just last week are now on sale! I don't usually bother to go all the way in to get the sale price and save $1.33 or whatever, but for this one the difference is like $3.50.

Do you each have your own individual tree?

Syl said...

We have one main tree, which is mostly my tree, Pants has a Mickey tree, and the girls each have their own tree. A few years ago, I got a set of three prelit little alpine trees for $10 or something after Christmas, and last year I got a big tree so we have a traditional thing. Might as well use all four, right?

Jaysan said...

So does that mean you won't go shopping with me?

Syl said...

Name the time, dude. I'm there.

Anonymous said...

Dude. Next time just call me. Nobody needs a tree skirt.

Just call me Scrooge.

Anonymous said...

I have a question. I have 2 trees and I only have room for one this year, how do you find the space for four?

We're going to put the home made ornaments on the upstairs tree (it's smaller) this year. I think we're planning on putting it up tonight. Yay!

Syl said...

They're LITTLE trees. The biggest of the three is only 3 feet tall, and they're skinny.