Good ideas ladies. My DH just told me he is getting rid of my little scraggly Christmas tree..so I am going to have to get a real tree or a new artifical one. I really want to sit it beside the fireplace. Should look nice.

I am thinking of buying books for some gifts this year. I am going to look around at what is new and popular right now. Know of any books for teens? Or young men? I am getting DS a Sudoku book for sure. He just told me he had never done those puzzles...and he is a math nut...so I think it would be fun for him. He loves logic puzzles also. Mom is a puzzle lover also, so I will pick up some books for her. (and when she un-packed she had 5 or 6 new jig-saw puzzles for us to do this winter) Jane, have you seen the Thomas Kincaid ones? Speaking of books...again, I will send DD in CA. gift cards then she will go buy the books to put under the tree for the "grands." That way I don't have to mail heavy books and she gets to pick books they don't have. (and their reading level, which I can't keep up with)

Okay...books...that is my bright idea today.

Hey Sue. Books are a great idea. You may try going to Amazon.com. I think you can look up most popular books, that may help. Or try Google or Froogle.....

Hi All, this thread was a terrific idea. I'm really into holidays. All of them. I tend to go overboard. I decorate, cook, bake, and anything to make the day feel special. I have some ideas for Halloween I thought I'd share. Baby sugar pumpkins are great to hold dips, cold salads, hot soup or what ever. After you clean out the pumpkin you can put almost anything inside. I make a shrimp dip that looks really great inside and ring the platter with thinly sliced hard baggette. I make meatloaf on Halloween and I make it into a really weird shape and have green, red and yellow bell pepper slices sticking out of it. Olives serve as eyes. It looks like something from another planet. I dye my mashed potatoes green and squeeze them out of a pastry bag but with no tip. I swirl the potatoes all around the bowl and it looks like entrails. Boiled eggs cut in half (not long ways) sitting on the cut side looks like eyeballs with a piece of olive stuffed on top. A toothpick dunked into red food coloring can be used to draw red veins on the whites of the eyes. Lastly, I put red food coloring in creamed corn. It's kind of pinkish with yellow lumps. Looks just like puke! My grandkids love it. If you like cauliflower, steam a head whole and put it in a bowl. The same toothpick with red give your new "brain" red veins. I make ghost, bats, and pumpkin shaped cookies for dessert. I hope this gives you guys some ideas. If you are giving a party, freeze water in a pair of clean rubber gloves. (I have the disposible kind like at the doctors office, talc free). After the frozen hand is good and hard, you can cut away the rubber and float the had in your punch.
There is not enough room for more so if you would like more ideas for this or other holidays pm me and I'll send them to you.
Norma

Sue - yes, we have 2 Thomas Kincaid puzzles so far. One is a Christmas residential outdoor scene, and the other one is a fall cottage in the woods outdoor scene. Both are round.

Sassy - I never heard of Froogle, but I would think from the name it is bargain hunting?

Norma - I love your Halloween ideas.

OMG NORMA! I love the Halloween dinner! How fun you must be during the holidays.

I never really do anything for Halloween. Years ago we did have a few costumes parties for adults and for the kids. But those days have been over for a while. I would love to dress up for Halloween and go to a party. But, I usually just sit home and give out candy because I enjoy seeing the little ones all dressed up, so cute.

Lots of good ideas here.

JANE...I have been saying every year I will have my Christmas shopping done early but it never happens. Just might this year though...I may have it done before Thanksgiving, or at least before December gets here.

SASSY...I don't really mind gift cards...Josh usually gets me one because he has doesn't like shopping for me. Now for DH he shops for because he usually gets him tools and so he loves going shopping for that...men! What's funny is I don't like giving them but DD always wants them to get books and music with. I like buying gifts for here but she is a simple person and doesn't want anything except her music and books.

Made me think of another time that that V bought me something. They always have these things in with the credit card bill and Penney's had some angel jewelry. I told him I wanted that. Well, what it was on the paper was a necklace, earrings and a bracelet. He took that paper to Penneys to see if they had the necklace which they didn't so he bought a mother and child pendant. While I loved it and appreciated it I laughed because I told him it was a bracelet I was wanting, lol. he laughed too and said, "Well you didn't say that" I never thought he would go buy it. But the pendant is so pretty, it's blue, not sure what kind of stone or what it is made of and the mother and baby are white.

You ladies and this thread are getting me excited about the holidays!

Jane -- Froogle is google only a part that you can search for stuff you want to buy and you can customize it by price, etc.

Cristina -- Gift cards are nice but sometimes a nice gift is nice too, it shows someone was paying attention to you. But either way, very great to receive anything...............and giving is even better.

Sassy, I'm alway indundated with a mulitude of catalogs for the holidays. They have so much gift items and ideas that I thought you might like to check out one that I bought allot of items from last year. You might go to this site and request a catalog. They have things you'd never thing of for the hard to buy person. http://www.lillianvernon.com
I hope this will give you some ideas.

OMG Norma! That is so cool you gave me that site, because I think its one of my mil's favorite's! I've heard of her talking about stuff from there and how much she likes it! She is one of the hard to buy for people on my list! Thank You!!!!

How is everybody doing? I have to go to Hobby Lobby to buy the Stockings for the Troops yet. Cristina, when do you need them by?????

Well I hope you all are doing well!

NORMA...I LOVE Lillian Vernon's catalog! I get them all the time and this time I am actually going to order from it. I have in the past but this Christmas one has a few things in it I really like. Another good one I like for decorations is Terry's Village.

SASSY...stockings...I will mail out the first or second week of November. I know it should only take 2 or 2 1/2 weeks but with the holiday's I don't know. That may be too early still. For my BD/Anniversary DH asked me what I wanted...didn't really need anything but one of the things I told him that a gift card to Barnes and Noble would be the BEST thing ever! He thought I was kidding. I told him I was serious...it would make me happy. I love reading, always have and you can never have enough books!

I am getting excited about the Holidays!

Cristina -- K I am planning on buying the stockings here soon so I will let you know as soon as I send them off to you!

Hey Gals.

Well I TRIED to buy my stockings tonight, BUT Hobby Lobby was closed by the time we got there and Michaels (Craft Store) didn't have any! Michaels only had the ones you do yourself, you know the cross stitch kind. I am not that ambitious and Cristina needs them by the 1st week of November and I don't think I'd make it by then! lolllllllllll.

So we will just go out later on today. (Tues.) I even stopped by Wally World in the hopes maybe they would have more in. They only had the $7.97 ones. So we will just wait until we get to Hobby Lobby.

Then this one cashier at Michaels told me that if you want to send Cookies to the troops, here is how you do it: Get a pringles can (ask a friend or family member ) and wrap the cookies individually with bubble wrap and put them in the pringles can. I have no idea where she came up with me sending the troops cookies but I thought that was a good idea, IF I were doing it. lol.

Sassy...yeah I tried Wal-Mart and Michaels first since they are the closest to my house. Michaels is now getting their Christmas stuff up but didn't have stockings. I knew Hobby Lobby would...geez, the last few years they started putting Christmas stuff out in June or July. Just a little bit and then by Sept/Oct they have everything. And they are just $1.67 so yeah, I would wait and go to Hobby Lobby. About the cookie idea...it is a good idea, but after wrapping each individual cookie in bubble wrap, I don't think you would get too many cookies in the pringles container. I plan on sending lots of cookies at the beginning of next year when I can order tons fromt he girl scouts,t hat will help them out. I have no clue how I will ship them but we'll see when it gets here. I do have tons of bubble wrap though...enough to last quite a while. DH gets it at work free. No he doesn't get a five finger discount, lol. A lot of the parts for the planes come wrapped in it so he tells one of the ladies to save it for him.

Anyone have their Halloween candy bought yet? We were at Sams last week and usually they have lots of the big bags of candy. Guess I either missed it or they didn't have it out yet. We didn't get a lot of kids last year so we'll see what happens this year. I love to see the little guys all dressed up...so cute!

Cristi - my Halloween candy is bought for the DGDs. That's all the trick or treaters we get way out here. Anyway, I had to look for peanut-free candy because of Makenzie, and wanted to make sure I had a good selection with hardly anyone bothering me, lol. I had the aisle to myself that day! I went ahead and bagged it up in gallon baggies - not full, of course. Mary will have to get rid of all the candy that has peanuts & tree nuts or is made in a factory that handles nuts. You just wouldn't believe how many candies that rules out! So, being a soft-hearted grandma, I didn't want the little ones to come up short-handed.

I haven't bought candy yet. The later I buy it the less chance I will partake. I really want to talk to my new neighbor and ask if they get kids from other areas, or just the ones who live here. If it is just the ones who live here, there are, I think 9 who could eat candy. If that is all we can expect I will make up some special little bags. If we get them from everywhere around then I will just do the regular thing!
I wish my "grands" were still small enough to come say "boo."

Jane...I've seen a lot of kids that are allergic to peanuts come to the door. I try to have a selection of different candies. The little boy across the street last year when I handed him some candies, said I can't have chocolate so I grabbed some other stuff for him to choose from. It really is amazing though the stuff that peanuts and or peanut oil is used in.

Sue...like you I decided to not buy too early so I wouldn't be tempted.

I'm jealous of you ladies with grandkids...I can't wait for the day to have little ones running around here. Of course I don't know if it will ever happen. Josh did tell me that he will give me lots of grandbabies to spoil. I told him but not in Hawaii. He said, What you don't want half hawaiian babies...I told him it's not that. But if you met someone and get married there I will never see them! Too far for me to travel a lot. I'm hoping when he is done in Iraq that he gets sent somewhere else in the states so at least I can travel to see him.