The Fat Man Gets All the credit!!!!

Well I'll be damned!! It's bellaofchaos!!!! Where the hell have you been hiding?! I haven't seen you around these parts in quite a while now and got to wondering where you went!! lol Well I'm glad to have you back dear friend!! Or is it mylot's not delivering? Who knows, I'm just glad to have you back!! Now about your discussion, I hate the holidays too. All the hussle and bustle is for the darned birds!! Instead of myself going out in it, I send my hubby to do it. lol

I used to feel the same way when my kids were young but, I can tell you from experience, something changes when the magic of Santa is no longer a part of your Christmas. My youngest is 18 and it was so weird the first Christmas after she knew that there was no Santa...just exchanging gifts. Fortunately, I have three young grandchildren living nextdoor and having them so close at least gives me a little bit of the Santa magic by proxy. I will get a phone call on Christmas morning from an excited little boy (either the 8 year old or the almost 3 year old) telling me to come over and see what Santa brought. So, take heart. One day your children will be grown and will realize the hard work you put in to make Christmas magical for them...and they will appreciate it. After that you can sit back and laugh at them when they complain about doing all of the work and getting none of the credit.

I love this holiday because of what it stands for. But I'm with you on all the rest of it. I always have to deal with the crowds in the stores while hubby sits home on his precious sofa watching TV. AND he grumbles if I ask him to do any of the wrapping. This Mrs. Clause has BAH HUMBUG on her cap this year. LOL!

I feel for ya Bella, really I do. I'm so glad that my 2 girls are now grown up now and I don't have to do all that sh1t anymore. YAY!!! I just put some money in a card, they buy what they want, and we are both happy. I HATE THE CROWDS AT THE MALLS NOW!!!!!!! Fighting over a parking spot or an item in the store is no way to help generate Christmas Spirit. So I just refuse to do it. So there. And I would only put 1 present under the tree for each from Santa, the rest from us. I want credit for all the work I went to to make the money for it, fight the crowds to get it and then wrap it up, too. I didn't raise my kids to be very material, so they weren't that demanding, because I was always on a tight budget.

I know what you mean!!! My little guy is so anxious about Santa coming... But you know what I do? I put half the presents from Santa and the other half from Mom & Dad... This way, he knows that Santa came and brought his most prized presents and Mom & Dad also got him stuff like a new jacket, some new shoes... I also make sure I address all the gifts so that he knows it's a giving/recieving thing for all of us... So his daddy's gifts say from Alex or from Mom. ETC... YEAH, I hate the store madness! Today I had to venture out because even though I'm done with the holiday shopping, life still goes on and I needed diapers, salt for the driveway, swiffer refills.... WALMART was crazy, crazy crazy.... And just to keep the holiday family madness down, I don't see any of them on Christmas Day. I like it just to be me, my son and DH. It's our time to enjoy the holiday. Time for us to begin making our own 'family' traditions... Parties, get-togethers, gift exchanges are done before or after the actual day... this reduces my stress strangely enough, even though the whole process is spread out. This year, because my little guy is almost 3 1/2, he understands some of what's going on, so this year, I'm loving Christmas! He's so excited and that has brought excitement to me! I used to HATE the holidays, I was a complete Grinch. But not this year. Ask me again next year, though! You know how quickly things change with kids around! Have a happy one!

Actually, I find all this madness part of the holiday spirit. Even if your child thinks that what he/she finds under the tree is Santa's gift, it's worth it, seeing him/her so happy, knowing that all your work paid off, knowing that they love your gift. The holiday madness gets pretty crazy, I have to admit, but in the end, it all works out and everyone's happy. That's what Christmas is all about.

My daughter is young and we don't plan on doing the santa thing. My husband and I have agreed that we are going not going to deny it but we aren't going to enforce it. We don't "tag" our gifts we use one wrapping paper for each kid. So we know that Luann gets the raindeer wrapping paper, Patrick gets the Snowmen paper, and Brianna gets the Snowflake paper. (that was the 08 Christmas paper it changes every year) (I do the same for my husband he gets special paper too although he will probably have the same paper for the next 5 years! I found a great deal (90% off) on Dale Earnhardt Christmas paper) So I am hoping that when my daughter is old enough we won't have to give all credit to "the fat man". My step kids believe in santa but the presents they get from us are from us. Santa comes on Christmas morning that their other house. I don't deal with the store madness! I shop all year long in order to avoid at all costs the stores during the Christmas season. I keep a list in my purse and if I see some thing I buy it. I do really good budget wise that way too! When I see some thing on sale I buy it. For example last year after Spring time they had serving trays down to 78 cents each and I knew my sister in law wanted them so I bought her 4! So I spent less then 4 bucks and it looked like I spent a lot more!!! I love the family time during the holidays. It makes me so happy to be around all my family and do all the fun family things, have all the talks and catch up with the ones that I don't get to see often. Overall I'd say I love Christmas but then again I am very prepaired. If I wasn't then I'd probably hate it!

Darling Bella, you have lost your Christmas spirit . The lead up to Christmas, the shopping and preparation are all part of the joy of Christmas. I had 8 people staying with me for around 6 days and getting everything ready was all part of the excitement. We all had a great time and everyone pitched in to help, even the kids. Every room in my house was re-arranged to accomodate everyone and I'm still putting things back to rights and doing laundry but with each chore is a happy memory and the joy of having my home back to myself...

hi bella!! nice to see you are still around. My eldest daughter is only 2.5 years old so this is pretty much her first year she understood waht teh heck was going on. lol. it was fun cause it was my first year. . and i did most of my shopping 3 months prior to xmas because i only get a small amount of money once a month, so i started early.. i was forced to lol. I even got my pic taken with the fat guy!

I agree that Santa gets all the credit for all the hard work: we parents do thru out the year leading up to the big day. My daughter is 5 and an only child, so I don't wrap gifts but do fill the stocking to overflow. She knows that Santa is a spirit that guides Mom to the gifts that he wants her to have for Christmas: she still believes in Santa even though she knows that I buy all the gifts and set them out myself for her Christmas Morning. As for shopping, I start in January for both Serenity's birthday and Christmas since they are only 15 days apart. I buy one or 2 gifts a month depending on the sales at the time, this is also how I get unique things for her stocking. But I do like to do a little last minute shopping, but go on the off hours to avoid the crowds and to steal a few extra deals.

Hi there. I am actually answering your post and Christmas has come and gone. I would have to say that it doesn't really matter too much the credit that gets assigned to whom. I am sick of the store madness though. That seems to get crazier each year. The holiday has lost its meaning as far as I am concerned with all of the hype of the holiday and those that forget the true meaning of the day. Happy New Year's!