Christmas- When do you?

[halcyondays]

start buying presents?
finish buying presents?
buy, write and actually send Xmas cards?
plan Xmas dinner?
buy Xmas food?
put up your tree?
anything else I've forgotten?

• start buying presents?

This year i Started in september.

• finish buying presents?

I'll be travelling to my parents's this Xmas and plan on buying all the big presenta i can't take on the plane at their city on 22nd december. It will be crazy... i hate shopping so close to Xmas.

• buy, write and actually send Xmas cards?

I've got some carss from last year. I won't be sending any, but will deliver a few in hands with a gift. Will probably be writting them on december and dellivering them throughout the month.

• plan Xmas dinner?

I haven't this year as i won't be cooking. When i host Xmas i pre-order food 10 daya before Xmas. I don't acfually cook much.

• buy Xmas food?

Since i won't be hosting or cooking, all i'm buying is stuff to nible. I already have tons of nuts and special Xmas biscuits.

• put up your tree?

I probably won't this year as i've had a few bad news in the last days but i usually put it up at the end of november.

• anything else I've forgotten?

I've bought plane tickets in septmber in order not to pay expensive rates. I've also arranged a pet sitter for my cats and dog in october and have alreasy paid half of it to secure my spot wirh the sitter.

Wrap presents?
I try to wrap as i buy but this year will probably be wrapping until dec 23rd.

Fill stockings?
We won't be having stockinga this year bit i usually fill them as i buy. Stocking stuffer are never wrapped in my home.

start buying presents? for DS only, start of November

finish buying presents? for everyone I usually get last bits delivered on Christmas week (few days before Christmas).

buy, write and actually send Xmas cards? - I dont, what a load of old shit.

plan Xmas dinner? - I have done a menu as we are hosting and worked out on which days I will be preparing/making what as we are away on the night of the 23rd and back on Christmas eve afternoon.

buy Xmas food? We started buying early this year, just cupboard bits for boxing day and stuff like turkey foil, goose fat and cranberry sauce etc... we are picking up our pre-ordered meat hamper at 8am on the 22nd and will buy the veg and any other trimmings on the 22nd.

put up your tree? This year, probably the 8th of December, as we have stuff going on either sides weekends.

anything else I've forgotten? Not sure!

start buying presents? Start around August
finish buying presents? Always aim to finish, and wrap, before December
buy, write and actually send Xmas cards? Buy at any point before the 1st, write on a free evening late November, start sending out 1st Dec
plan Xmas dinner? We always head to my parents for Dinner which is handy
buy Xmas food? tend to have a wander round to see whats left on 23rd and get in some party food, cheese, crisps and dips and picky bits for the freezer
put up your tree? Always the first, rest of the decs go up on and around the first weekend in Dec

start buying presents? As early as October for family abroad with poor postal system. End of November for the rest.
finish buying presents? Anywhere before Christmas Eve is good in my book
buy, write and actually send Xmas cards? I've done mine for family (see above) and will do a few more in December - but do under 10 now in total
plan Xmas dinner? Mid December
buy Xmas food? 23rd although I have put an item or 2 in each online shop through November with things like Pringles, crackers, biscuits and chocolates
put up your tree? Weekend in mid December

Start buying presents ~ Early December
Finish buying presents ~When I've got them all
Do the cards ~ Early December, have cut down number sent recently
Plan dinner ~ Late November
Buy food ~ From late November all through December
Put up tree ~ Christmas Eve
Wrap presents ~ Christmas week
Fill stockings ~ Christmas Eve

Everything in advent (apart from making cake and pudding usually, which are in late November)
Buying presents: start in early December, but nag for lists from DC and DH in November.
Decor - lights and wreath go up on 1st december and the Christmas music comes out of stroage. Tree usually goes up about a week befre christmas, though I might do it early this year because we have guests early.

First start buying presents I start small in the summer for stockings if I happen to see something that they’d like bigger stuff later and I plan to be completely done by early December. I can only afford the presents my kids want by spacing it out.

Write and send the few cards I do send early December along with any presents that need posting.

Start buying non perishable Christmas food November time (this means I’ve already cracked open a tub of quality street. Oops.) the meat, veggies etc will be bought the last weekend before Christmas.

Tree goes up first weekend in December.

Wrapping presents doesn’t start til December I love wrapping and it feels wrong to do this before the tree is up. Stockings are filled up Christmas Eve night once the kids are asleep. They’re hung on the doors so easy enough.

start buying presents?
JAN SALES

finish buying presents?
AROUND ABOUT NOW

buy, write and actually send Xmas cards?
EARLY DEC

plan Xmas dinner?
MY MUM DOES IT

buy Xmas food?
AS ABOVE

put up your tree?
DEC 1st

anything else I've forgotten?

start buying presents? January
finish buying presents? Christmas eve when everything closed and I physically can't buy anything else
buy, write and actually send Xmas cards? I don't
plan Xmas dinner? Not a lot of planning I do the same every year . But I wrote my Christmas shopping list today
buy Xmas food? I'll hopefully get a delivery slot for somewhere between the 19th-23rd of Dec
put up your tree?it's been up since nov 1st !

All presents get wrapped once the wrapping papers is in the shops and as i buy from then on

start buying presents?
Start with little bits for advent calendars and stockings straight away. Plus stuff I use to 'pad out' the presents (socks/knicks type things) in the Primarni sale, not long after Christmas.

finish buying presents?
Christmas eve; we always go to the market for fresh veg on Christmas eve, go for hot chocolate somewhere, and I sneakily buy something both girls have spied while we've been out (this is getting harder as they get older though - dd1 has seen a few bits I thought I had hidden well while paying for other stuff)

buy, write and actually send Xmas cards?
Buy - sales for Rainbows and Guides, and school; closer to Christmas for the few close people I send them to
Write - one evening while the girls (probably more dd2 this year) do theirs.
Send - the morning after they're written.

plan Xmas dinner?
Erm...not yet, I vaguely know what we're having so will think about it over the next week or so.

buy Xmas food?
Started adding odd bits to my online shop the week after Halloween. The bulk will be ordered for the 20th ish, fresh bought the weekend before, and anything missing then will be done without.

put up your tree?
Beginning of December ish when someone with more upper-body strength will come and get in the loft for me.

Start buying presents at the beginning of December and finish on Christmas Eve.
I don’t do cards.
Dp plans (and cooks) the meal. He goes to the butchers to order (beginning of December) and collects the meat (couple of days before Christmas) and puts whatever else we need on the food shop which I have reserved.
We go and choose the tree on about 15th December.
Presents start getting wrapped mid December and stockings are filled at about 2am on Christmas Day!

Start buying: I usually start in May at Badminton Horse trials..lots of good bargains there for my sister.
Finish buying: I've done all mine now. I tend to do the bulk of my buying in October but I occasionally see a few little extra bits I like right up until Christmas Eve.
Cards: I only do ones for my team at work with a thank you note. Tend to do those on the morning of the team Christmas lunch
Plan dinner: as soon as the M&S website opens for orders! I've ordered the meat and will get the main shop on Christmas Eve. I quite enjoy the shops on that day and even though it's busy the atmosphere is nice.
Put up tree: fake tree in kitchen may go up next week, real one in front room will go up on 1st December
Wrap: have done those for my nephews,niece, sister and bil as they live in France and my parents are taking everything next week when they visit. The other gifts I tend to wrap a couple of weeks before. I like to take my time with Christmas music on and the tree lights on.

Start buying presents : I've already bought alot of presents,still quite a few to buy though I'm doing better than last year when I hadn't started till the middle of december I think.

Finish buying presents :I hope to be done by the first week of December.

Buy,write and actually send Christmas cards :I haven't bought any yet but I want to have them all wrote and the one's that have to be posted done by about the 10th of december.

Plan xmas dinner : The end of this month.

Buy xmas food : I've bought a few bits and pieces already,we picked up 2 bottles of the M&S liquer that( that were mentioned on MN)the rest I'll get the first week of December and then all of the fresh bits a couple of days before Christmas.

Put the Christmas tree up : always 12 days before Christmas,it's what my parents did and my DH's parents and we've carried that tradition on.

Wrap presents I think we'll probably start about the second week of December(in the past I have had to buy everything and wrap it all on Christmas Eve because of a lack of money)sometimes we wait until our 5DC are in bed and have a little drink and put something good on the tv and me and DH wrap the presents together that or we do it over a few days when our DC are at work/college and school and we have Christmas music on whilst we wrap.

Fill the stockings :One of my most favourite parts of Christmas,we do that once our DC are in bed on Christmas Eve and I do my DH's whilst he's putting our youngest to bed and he does mine when I'm out of the house.

start buying presents?
If any main presents are on offer during the year i’ll buy them as and when, if I dont notice any deals, i’ll start sometime soon after the beginning of November

finish buying presents? Around the end of November

buy, write and actually send Xmas cards? Don’t tend to do cards anymore

plan Xmas dinner? What’s there to plan?

buy Xmas food? The week before

put up your tree? Sometime the first week of december

Wrap presents- When the pile at the bottom of the wardrobe gets too much, i’ll wrap a load in one go put them in the corner of the dining room and refill the wardrobe then wrap again etc all done well before because I hate doing it, gift bags are a life saver

Stockings- don’t do stockings, DSS doesn’t appreciate the smaller gifts and DS is only 1, DP never had one as a kid but I miss them!

start buying presents?
finish buying presents?
buy, write and actually send Xmas cards?
plan Xmas dinner?
buy Xmas food?
put up your tree?
anything else I've forgotten?

End of August
Christmas Eve
I don't for me, help the kids the last few days of term
Don't plan Christmas dinner, always have it at one relatives or another
We do a Christmassy buffet for DS's birthday a few days before Christmas but don't do any other special food shopping really
Mid December, I'd like to do earlier this year but DH says no unless I buy and deliver it myself

Wrap-start once I've bought all the kids presents, usually beginning of December. Always still have some still to do on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.

start buying presents?
January sales. I tend to buy some bits over the year and start in earnest September onwards.

finish buying presents?
Mid December.

buy, write and actually send Xmas cards?
Buy September, write December and post within a few days of writing.

plan Xmas dinner?
Now ish

buy Xmas food?
November for non dated food- I add in extras into each big “weekly” shop- like Pringles, wine, nice biscuits, cranberry sauce, fizzy juice/mixers, chocolates etc.

put up your tree?
December 1st or first weekend in December.

Forgotten? Wrapping presents? I started in October.

start buying presents? Whenever people mention what they like

finish buying presents? First week in December online, second week for everything else

buy, write and actually send Xmas cards? Only exchange cards with immediate family just before Christmas

plan Xmas dinner? Same dinner every year so planned already

buy Xmas food? Weekend before Christmas if it's fresh, before if it's frozen

put up your tree?two weeks before Christmas

anything else I've forgotten? Alcohol, there is never enough

When do you wrap presents? When DH has his Christmas night out. Film on, mulled wine, love this night.

fill stockings? After the kids have gone to bed

Love seeing when everyone else starts doing stuff - so much variety.

Start buying presents? - normally September onwards. However if I see anything earlier in the year I will buy it to put in the present cupboard.

finish buying presents? - anywhere from the beginning of December to a week before Christmas. It can sometimes be hard to get ideas for my Nephews/Nieces.

buy, write and actually send Xmas cards? - buy usually in January. Write and send usually the second week of December whilst DS is writing his.

plan Xmas dinner? - dinner never normally changes, so I know what it will be all year. Only cooking for 2 so it's easy really.

buy Xmas food? - November onwards for non-perishable items, but I don't tend to do huge shops at a time so again up until Christmas Eve here.

put up your tree? - 1st Saturday of he month. I love that it falls on Dec 1st this year 🎄

When do you wrap presents? - normally on my days off the last week before Christmas. DS is a terrible sleeper so I can't risk doing it once he's in bed or else he'd be downstairs after an hour.

Fill stockings? - Christmas Eve.

start buying presents - around mid-October
finish buying presents - anywhere between mid-December and Christmas Eve!!
Xmas cards - buy in post-Christmas sales, write and send early December.
Plan Xmas dinner - nothing to plan really, it's a roast dinner like I do most weeks, with a few extras.
By Xmas food - start putting away non-perishable stuff like nuts, quality street tubs etc from October. Actual Christmas food shop sometime between 19th and 22nd Dec, I can't bear how busy the shops are after that!
Put up your tree - first weekend in Dec, except for last year when we were having loads of work done so it was mid-December.

Oh, missed off some!
Wrap presents - about a week or two before Christmas.
Fill stockings - Christmas Eve, after they've all gone to bed!!