Crazy Christmas Preparations

I have been falling behind on my blog posts because this time of year is so stinkin busy.  I used to think that when the old people would complain about all the commercialization of Christmas it was just because they were crotchety and Scrooge like.  I guess I am getting old because it seems like I find myself wishing for less gifting and more time with friends and family.  I run around making sure everyone has gifts: kids, cousins, grandparents, neighbors, school teachers, visiting teachers, Primary teachers and on and on.  Just when I think I have it covered then more needs pop up.  In the midst I have choir concerts, band concerts, work parties, ward parties, cookie parties, swim meets, tithing settlement etc.  It is all a time suck.  Tom sometimes helps but really, if the stuff doesn't get done or is done poorly it isn't Tom's homemaking skills that are judged, it is mine.  Crappy double standard.  I can now see how the Christmas spirit can really get lost in all the things that "must" get done.  If Tom does anything, even as small as put lights on the Christmas tree, he gets congratulated but if I forget to send my kid's artwork to Primary for the Christmas party decorations then all I hear is tsk tsk.  It is maddening.

Thank goodness it is all over next week.  All I am looking forward to right now is Christmas Eve where I will spend the day with the family doing some incredibly fun outside activities that will make the kids very tired.  As I am already tired, the fun is in the family traditions.  Hopefully, we can pry Tom away from his computer.  It is a blessing and a curse to work from home.  If he even looks at his crackberry on Christmas Eve I will throw it in the toilet "on accident".

Here are some sanity saving strategies I have found:
1.  Online shopping - get everything you need at all hours of the day or night and do it in your sweats while eating pizza.  Whahoo!  Plus they bring it to your house.  I am not seeing the downside here...
2.  Hiding Christmas presents in plain sight.  You know that pile of blankets near the TV or the pile of clean socks that no one ever folds?  No better places for hidden treasure.
3.  Curbside pickup - For those items you just can't bear to pay to have shipped to your house or are cheaper at Kmart than at Amazon.  Place your order at Kmart or Sears, in 1-2 hours they send you a text and you drive up, open up your trunk and they load it in.  No crowd fighting, no wrangling for parking spots, no check out lines, you don't even go inside the store.  The best part? No extra charge for this service. 
4.  Dream Dinners - You go one night and make 12-24 dinners then go home and throw them in the freezer.  When people are hungry and no one really wants to cook, defrost and voila, delicious meal anyone can make.