It's 80 degrees in Sunny California today on Thanksgiving... Crazy - I want it to be Fall - brown leaves.... cool weather... I want to smell fireplaces burning their logs.... Instead I get my husband without his shirt doing yard work..... The way this wacky weather has been going - we'll probably have beach weather on Christmas and wait to go snowboarding in the summer.... global warming, anyone?
I learned a very valuable lesson yesterday and I know it can benefit you too... I was going through the Sunday morning coupons and sales and ran across a sale at Target. Target had the IPOD classic 160GB on sales for $245 with a $20 gift card - this is my husband's dream machine - it holds up to 40,000 songs - who else has 40,000 songs except for my husband - Mr. "I still love the 70's and 80's music and my CD collection is busting out the seams". So I decided to drop by Target after I went to Best Buy to check out their laptops that they had on sale...
Best Buy still had the laptop so I decided to buy it for me... well actually - I bought it for my husband to give to me for Christmas (he hates to shop and I am guaranteed getting exactly what I want, ha) so I was talking to the cashier about the sales and do I really want Windows 7 when I just got used to Windows Vista.. I mentioned that I was heading over to Target to get the IPOD - she asked me what the sales price was - I told her - She looked at me with a little doubt and proceeded to go to Target's website - and the sale was not on their site... She said that maybe they could match the price but the site was not showing the sales price.... I told her I had the ad in my car - she asked me to get it.. I did....
Not only did Best Buy match my price they even went lower.... They gave me a base price of $229 and a gift card for $20 - bringing the price down to a net of $209 - vs my original net of $225!! I was thrilled!
Kelly's Christmas tip #1 - Bring the ads with you when shopping and see if the competition will beat the price... In today's economy every little bit helps.. Oh, please don't tell Dusty what I got him... it's a surprise...
One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is to entertain. I love to decorate my home for Christmas - today I had the husband bring down over 43 boxes filled with Christmas goodies from the attic - tomorrow Winter Wonderland will visit our home. Everything will be Christmas - from the front yard - to the living room - to the bathrooms - to the kitchen - even my plates and silverware.
I found a great site to find dinnerware and flatware for my holiday parties - I just purchased 3 sets of the Christmas bulbs salt and pepper shakers. They are adorable for my Christmas dinner table - this year we will have close to twenty (20) people sharing our Christmas bird and we need more than one pair of shakers. I also fell in love with the plates - especially the Winter Berry design - in addition to the plates there are matching glassware and flatware.
Pfaltzgraff.com is a great site to visit for your holiday needs and everyday decorating - click on the links and have fun shopping and getting great ideas. You can find everything from dinnerware to flatware to drink ware to linens to complete your dinner table - I will definitely post pictures.
One of the things that most excites me about the Christmas season is having a great excuse to do for others.. During the normal year - giving and doing for others may make the person receiving - feel bad..... A person's pride may be get battered and that is something I never would want to do... but during the Christmas season people in need tend to be more apt to receive..... does that make sense?
This Sunday I am getting together with my friends.... my sister... and we are stuffing tube socks.. Yes, you heard that right - we are stuffing brand new tube socks with water and pop tarts - then we will deliver them to a homeless shelter in Orange County.... I love this kind of thing....
You know, you could do something special too this Christmas season that is if don't already have something lined up... Operation Christmas Child - also known as the shoebox ministry. This is an incredible way to bring joy to a child that would not being celebrating Christmas any other way.. The boxes go all over the world.
The boxes are so easy to put together - you can use a shoebox you already have handy or you can go to almost any Christian church and they will probably have boxes for you specially designed for this ministry.
Here's what you do:
Get a standard sized SHOE BOX or small plastic container you can wrap the lid if you like Choose a boy or girl and what age 2-4, 5-9, 10-14 Fill with age appropriate gifts (no liquids - please) Donate $7 or more for shipping and expense Place a large rubber band around the box.
Target has some great ideas there - I usually put a markers, pads, toothpaste, a battery operated toothbrush, stickers, hard candy, a small stuffed animal, and lots of little toys...
