Coffee Break #24 - One month to Christmas!

The garage. My kids have never been nosy.

i've been in stores although most of the shopping has been on line - had packages today from both ups and the mail man

Giving only one present this year. Expecting it in the mail any day now.

My kids used to get into everything, even when it wasn't Christmas, LOL!

i can remember as a kid playing with my youger bother in the basement, whatever we were palying with went under a spare bed - found a table top hockey game under there - we were pumped and kept our lips shut!

I still have hubby to get for(he hasn't decided what he wants)
and my nephew, he's in the army so he's getting a calling card then I'm done!

My shopping is done(fabric), now I just have to sit down and make the stuff!

I'm sewing little teddy bears for my nieces. Each one will have a pocket on its chest with a tooth and their name embroidered on it... for when they lose their teeth! I've got the fabric. Just have to do the sewing. Gee, I better get on it!

I'm almost done and most was online . Can't beat it, no standing in line, no crowds of crabby people in a hurry and delivered for free! No sales tax on some too.

As kids and we stopped believing in Santa my mom would wrap the presents and sit them all in her room. It drove me nuts....I can remembering one year unwrapping some and the re-wrapping them...I wonder now if she knew!!

My oldest son told me after he was grown that he and his brother found all the presents one time before I had them wrapped and was more excited knowing what he was going to get and trying to keep it from us!!

Christmas in Austria is celebrated a bit different. St. Nikolaus visits us on Dec. 6, his supposedly real birthday but Dec. 25 is the real Christmas that was celebrated Christmas eve. My sister and I spent the afternoon of the 24th with my great-grand father, right after it became dark my father would take us home as we entered the door there was the Christmas tree first time we saw it, lit up with real candles, its decoration were mostly cookies, nuts, chocolates, apples and oranges, with presents underneath. First we had to sing 'Silent night'---then we could open our gifts. After all that excitement we had supper and had to get ready for mid-night mass.
The last Christmas we had like that I was 11 years old, the next Christmas was here in this country with my husband, I was 20 years old. I made my husband laugh when I said , oh our Christmas tree was much taller than this one, he asked, well how tall where you then?

Wha, that seems to be a common occurance. I heard a congressman on "The View" the other day say, he and his siblings would sneak and play with their toys before xmas. He wrote a book with this story in it. Seems parents need to be more sleuth like in hiding the goodies:-)

My sister and I did this too. The bad part was breaking them before xmas day :-)

Those teddy bears sound really neat. Great idea!

What are you sewing Jumper? I once found a really simple quilt pattern and made for three of my nephews, xmas quilts. My sisters liked them so much, the quilts wound up on their beds :-)

Nice story, Maria.

Bad girl, Joyce!

Ha, thats funny Maria! Things do look bigger when you are a child. Your xmas tree sounds delicious!

Victor, at my age one does reminisce a lot.

jada, my children also laughed when I told them about that story.
One time I asked my mother about the walnuts wrapped in foil hanging on the tree. She said that she saved every bit of foil from a chocolate bar, flattened it out to use it for that purpose sticking a tooth pick in the small opening to attach a thread with a loop to hang on the tree. The foil was very fine and came in different colors. I did the same thing for my children.

Should edit before I post, sorry

This message was edited Dec 4, 2009 10:21 AM

that sounds nice maria.

I love to hear the childhood stories and about peoples traditions ^_^

Me too!

The Cheetah, uh - I mean Tiger, story gets more interesting every day. 5 million to stay quiet. Nice.

Christmas cards....Are you sending them this year???

I think if they are my friend on Facebook I won't send them one but will post one there, I mean they see the kids pics and gets updates weekly so what's new to find out, right?

Haven't sent them for a few years now. I send the e-cards.

I have a few elderly family members not on computer that I send cards to. No money in them thou :-0

No cards in years. I don't even do e-cards! I give them to my boys with their gift and one for my sister...gosh when I first got married I had a Christmas Card List LOL!!

I think Tiger paid off the neighbor too.

We do X-mas cards & I have an animated, personalized E-mail card with snow falling and house lights glowing I kept from last year. A friend sent me that card in an E-mail and I went into the script and changed it to my name! Hee hee!

I agree, WC.

Lee Valley has some nice stuff for kids. Old - fashioned, and low-tech.

http://www.leevalley.com/gifts/page.aspx?c=20&p=53201&cat=4,104

OOOH! I like the animated models. It say kids age 9 and up. Guess that would be me :-)

They have lots of great garden stuff too.

Maria - where in Austria are you from?

My brother spent time there in college on exchange - in St. Veit - and his German Papa was Anton Schmidt an Austrian composer.

I've been to Salzburg, but that's all. And that was in 1977 . . .

This is beautiful, though expensive. Love copper.

http://www.leevalley.com/gifts/page.aspx?c=2&p=51923&cat=4,104,53210&ap=5

Yea, too expensive to ruin with a potted plant.

Not so much given the size--you could do a thousand things with it....

True. Big enough to soak one's butt!

I've been making my own cards for the last 10 years or so, at my father in laws funeral this summer I can't tell you how many relatives came up to me and told me how much they look forward to getting them. These are relatives we rarely see.

It's really nice to hear how something you do, positively impacts upon the lives of others, isn't it Debilu! ^_^
Ummm...Victor, that's one use I HADN'T thought of! LOL!

Criminals can be so dumb!

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9CC1A2O0&show_article=1&catnum=0

Katie, I am from Vienna, Austria, I still think it is the most beautiful city in the world of course, I am some what prejudiced but who could blame me? You have to tell me was your bother's Papa a German or an Austrian?

A very dear friend of mine lives in Everson, WA, I have visited him and family quite often and they have visited me. He is also a DG member.
Maria

I do send cards, that's how my girlfriends & I get to see each others grandkids---plus we have friends in faraway places. Loved the Christmas story, Maria. Jumper & Harper, you are both clever to make the gifts for the kids! Victor, I agree!

Debilu - I love your cards too! I have sent a couple that you brought to my RU, and they were very well-received. You do a beautiful job on them! Those are the best kinds of gifts!

Victor - how do you find such terrific sites? I really like that catalog. I'm looking at the horseshoes for kids.....very cool! Lovely copper pot/stand too! Thanks for sharing that link!

Maria - I love your story about your Christmas Eve in Austria. What a beautiful tradition!

Lucy and Harper - those sound like wonderful gifts that will probably be treasured for life! I never thought of a tooth fairy bear. Very cool! Our oldest grandson (7) just told me on the phone that he lost his first tooth. Too bad his grammy isn't as clever as Harper!