I swore last year that I wouldn't fight the rude Xmas crowds ever again. Xmas cheer and love thy neighbor was nowhere to be found.
So this year I started shopping little by little after Labor Day as things showed up in the stores, or go on sale, etc.
I am now officially done.
I just need to wrap it all....ick.
But I think I'll do this again next year.

Nadine..Good for you my friend! I started getting a few things, on line.
i have a folder in my favorites, that i save pages i come across for ideas for gifts!
i keep it very simple and pressure free..

I try to do the same thing but with DH out of work this summer we have to get a late start. Luckily he is working again so Thanksgiving has a special meaning for us. I have been getting one gift per week to ease the spending all at once.

Good thing you're not sitting next to me or I might just slap you!!! (just kidding!)

I've sworn off the "commercial" purchasing and I either bake or make all the gifts we give. Of course, we don't have kids in the family...so it seems to work for us. (The kids that we do~a few nieces/nephews~ get $). So...I'm just now starting to sew.

You have a great plan though!

Kim-- I also bought a couple things online too. Maybe someday I'll do it all that way but I enjoy the 'activity' of shopping, just not during Xmas.
Also by getting everything so early, I find things for my grandkids that they 'just gotta have!'. Both of my married DDs have lots of in-laws and if I don't buy something early, they will have already gotten it and I'll have to keep looking for something else.
Ha..not this year!! (P.S. one of their MILs also reads this board and she'll see this....:-)....and know that I've beaten her to the punch this year.) Gotcha, Mimi :D :D

I would if I knew what anyone wanted. With an 18 year old, I can't pick up just anything or he won't like it. So far, I have gotten 3 things. I used to be through by now.

This is a very broke year. DH and I just have SS checks so I am making or not giving this year. It is so hard for me to resist the temptation to "buy", I love to get a bargain.

Hurray to you for being finished. I will be if I get in the sewing room and off of the computer!

my DGKs are strange... they actually like the things that Nana makes them :) Thus, I don't shop that much.

Isn't that wonderful? My older DGKs (and DDs and SILs) sometimes ask for me to make something but the younger ones want what they see their friends playing with or on tv, of course.
When I was a kid I HATED getting gloves, or a sweater etc that someone took the time to make. Now that I realize the commitment and love that goes into handmade items, I'm doing the same thing but usually only for the older ones.