Organizing Gift Bags

I just got to the end of putting away all the left over Christmas gift bags, etc.  Don't you hate it when you go to use a bag, whether it's from Christmas or a birthday, Easter, Valentine's Day, or whatever and you don't know if you can give it to "said" person in fear that THEY might have given you the bag that you're about to give BACK to them?  Yeah, me too.  Here's what I do to keep all these miscellaneous gift toting sacks organized:

Label!! With sticky notes, I put the year (or occasion) it was received, who gave it, and if need be, to whom it was given on the top, inside of the bag.

If the bag came with a tag on it, I'll leave it there until next time so I know who it came from, but I will still label the year.

If it's a brand new bag, and I might forget that, I'll label it as such. Actually, this one I wouldn't have had to because, on it, still appears the clear hook tab used for display at the store. Take them off before giving a gift! Please!!

On to storing the bags for future use.... If you have enough gift wrapping paraphernalia to start your own store like I do, this gets really important. I have mine categorized according to holiday/occasion and then stored (thank goodness they can be flattened!) in large shopping bags.

Here's my stash of Christmas bags.

These are categorized by baby, birthday, wedding, various holidays and nondescript.

Now,  if only a little fairy would come and fix up the rest of my house so it would be equally as organized!  (Just a little hint as to what I'll be working on in 2011.....  turning into a fairy.  Either that or organizing, one of the two.)

I Know Something You Don't Know

You know who you are, and you know what it means.

No, I did not spend too much.

Oh Christmas Tree

Now how sweet is a family's first true Christmas tree excursion? Picture in your mind a beautiful forest of strong pines, motionless in their sturdy roots, dusted with the most beautiful, glistening, powdery snow on the ends of their branches. The still silence surrounding them giving the greatest sense of peace on earth you could ever experience. Breathtaking. I said picture it in your mind; I didn't say we actually got our tree in that setting!

I have some majorly fond memories of picking out a Christmas tree when I was a kid. YEARS of picking out Christmas trees with my mom & dad. I loved it. Somehow the weather was always perfect ~ not bitterly cold, not windy. We went to a lovely Christmas tree farm down a side road about 5 miles away from our home. The owner knew my parents & I kind of always felt like we were treated well. The chore of choosing the perfect tree was equally exciting, fun & difficult. It somewhat saddened me to leave certain trees behind.....the ones that weren't so perfect. Would they get chosen at all? Or would they just sit there, alone, all through Christmas and beyond? And then what happened to them? I felt bad for them. So I'm sensitive. Sue me. I've long attached feeling to completely inanimate objects (those tiny Cheetos were cute, darn it!).

I picture my dad in his outdoor coveralls, with his slightly hunched over shoulders & somewhat subtle side-to-side walk, always asking me which one I liked. I picture my mom, close by my side, pointing out the different types of trees & teaching me yet one more thing in life. I see her choosing left behind branch clippings, forming for herself a now beautiful bundle of trimmed greens.....ones just right for the classy arrangements she always whipped up.

One day I want to go to an out of the way tree farm like this one was, but for our first year with a monumentally bored 6-year old (who attempted to make a Fairy Snow Village in any whisper of snow she could find on our stops), a 2-year old who would surely need a nap, and a Mother who was trying not to think of the umpteen million things she had to do at home. It so happened that our 3rd try was the charm. (Stop #1: no real selection. Stop #2: $110 trees?!?! Ty said that even if George Clooney would have been helping us, we still wouldn't have bought one. I said we certainly would have lingered though.)

(Pause, pause, pause..............)

Huh? Oh, yeah, right, the tree. I got a little Clooney gooney there for a bit.

Beautiful tree. Really a nice one. Balsam fir. Almost perfect shape. Great size. So great, in fact, that it didn't exactly fit in the corner we planned on putting it in. A couple more feet & we'd have even been out of luck in the 13' corner of the living room. Truly, it looked much smaller out in the wild.

Ho Ho Ho...ly Line

Today we visited the jolly bearded man. There were about four different "neato" outings we had to choose from, but a jaunt to a cute little town about 20 minutes away seemed like a pleasant manner in which to meet up with Santa. Oooo ~ and he was a "good" one too....perfect size, great beard, the right age, nice voice. I liked him.

The event was at a library where they also had Mrs. Claus in attendance, along with a hard-working elf who was reading books & scurrying about helping with this, that and the other thing. There were areas where the kids could color and enter a contest with their art piece, decorate a cookie, and make a pipe cleaner & bead ornament. The function was from 10am-noon. We arrived about 11:20.....to find a line so long that I couldn't even see the end of the winding maze of people. Having no idea how long it might take us to be able to encounter the large elf himself, we set up Ty as our place marker. Piling him up with all of our coats, hats, mittens & our video camera & digital camera bag, I took the girls on a little jaunt to keep them occupied.

Ty learned that the people in line behind him originally arrived right at 10am, but the line was already out the door. That would have been an almost 2-hour wait! They came back later to get in line behind us, but had to get to a child's birthday party as well, but didn't know if they'd make it in time. How do you make a kid choose ~ Santa....birthday party? Santa....birthday party?

Suffice it to say, they were all out of the supplies for our ornament making enjoyment, but there were still cookies to decorate. There were cookies, and we were approaching 12:05pm. I'm sure I have never let my children eat two cookies, especially ones that I didn't make, before noon.

Finally, with quite a lot of patience on their part, up in Santa's lap they went. A. was very prepared with her list in hand. When Santa commented on the length of her wish list, she politely pointed out that she didn't even use many of the lines on the page. M. was happy to hang out for her 2-minute dose of the jolly old elf. And that was that. Lots of waiting, a little video taping, a couple of pictures.....and another sweet memory for my memory bank.

Santa, can you clarify your definition of "good"?

Cookie #1.......or was it cookie #2?

Advent Calendar

Every year, as a child, my mom gave me an advent calendar. I absolutely loved them. Each one was different, and I admired the scenes, often times, feeling as if I could be a part of the activities in them. Even into adulthood, Mom continued to surprise me with an advent calendar just in time for December 1st. It always tickled me, because I had a strange amnesia about the calendars. I would recall them something during the month of November, but then completely forget about them until she presented me with the annual gift. She has maintained our tradition even after I have had my own children. The calendar countdowns have advanced since the 1970s, now with more elaborate detail & material, but nonetheless it's still something that is one of my most basic loves of Christmas.