{My OCD is kicking in..}

I hate, hate, hate, not having a plan for big holidays. I'm obsessed with planning! I love it! Oddly enough, I'm not as organized as a planner should be though (we will blame this on 3 small people and 1 giant one). It is absolutely killing me that we haven't started Christmas shopping yet. I am one of those people that likes to start shopping right away because I know first hand how waiting will lessen your chances of getting what you want (or more importantly what your kids want) and no one wants to see a disappointed face on Christmas morning. Well, I don't at least. I had so many craptastic Christmases growing up that I really never want my kids to experience that pain. Since D informs me that we will not be shopping until this weekend (I know, kind of cutting it close to the deadline there dear), I have been busy online trying to figure out what I want to get the kids. It's rough shopping for these kids because they don't need anything as far as toys go, but obviously you can't just get a 6 and 7yr old socks and underwear lol. I guess we'll see. I have a few ideas as to what to get each kid. G has a birthday on the 30th also so it's kind of a pain in the butt buying for Christmas and having something left for his birthday too. Oh well. I think I'm going to get Bug some bath toys (he loves taking a bath) and some color wonder paper (since he loves to draw on my walls and furniture). G is deffinately getting an air plane with little men to go with it. Drama Queen wants a princess coloring book and I'm half thinking about some American Girl stuff (you can get it at barnes and nobel). I'm also thinking about pulling out my Molly doll for her (I got her years ago and she is in great condition). I think she is finally at a place where I feel comfortable letting her play with her while supervised. Good decision? We shall see I guess. T is always hard to buy for because his grandmother buys him everything he wants. It's sort of a pain because then we have nothing to get him. D gave him the guitar for his birthday (which is the 22nd). Blah.

As far as Christmas dinner goes, I am hosting this year for my mother. Her place is far too small for us all to fit comfortably and my sister won't invite our moms fiance. It's a big bunch of drama. But anyway- I've got the menu planned out (see? I'm a planner). I want to have veggies and dip set out for when people arrive. The main menu is; ham, green bean casserole, mac & cheese (cause I know the kids will eat it), stuffing, mashed potatoes, and corn. My mother is also supplying the deviled eggs (because I've yet to meet anyone who makes them like she does!). My sister is supposed to bring a desert but I'm also making a couple so that we have plenty and just in case she doesn't bring one. I already no bake cheese cake and cherry pie filling, and I'm going to make some kind of cake I think. I am super excited to be hosting. I've been busy downloading Christmas songs (new and old) to have playing in the background. I am planning on removing our coffee table (chucking it out the backdoor is more like it) and adding our ottoman so that there is a little more seating. The week before I'm gonna clean like crazy and bleach down everything. I know I hate walking into a dirty house for a meal, I wouldn't expect my family to eat on dirty things. I'm also going to invest in paper plates and silverware because we don't have enough and I don't want to do all those dishes anyway lol. So yay! It's pretty much all planned unless someone can think of some other yummy dish I should make or some other Christmasy thing I could do :). Lay it on me!

My mother and her fiance are also bringing his 11yr old daughter and 6yr old son. So we'll have to buy for them plus my nephew Monkey (not his real name...his nickname that I gave him). No clue what to get the boys but I know what I'm getting the girl. :) Yay me!