Secret Subject Swap 12/7

It's that time of month again (no, not THAT time.....this one is good!). A time for a bunch of bloggers to get a subject and write about it. It's..........

SECRET....SECREt.....SECRet.....SECret....SEcret.....Secret....secret.
SUBJECT.....SUBJECt....SUBJEct.....SUBJect....SUBject....SUbject...Subject.....subject.
SWAP.....SWAp.....SWap.....Swap......swap....
(that's suppose to reflect being echoed...lol...not sure if I pulled that off at all)

Welcome to Take One of December’s Secret Subject Swap, the first of two this month. This week, 15 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. 

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts.  Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

http://BakingInATornado.blogspot.com                     http://sorrykid.blogspot.com/                                  http://mybrainonkids.net/                                         http://momofbigalittlea.blogspot.com                         

http://DeBieHive.blogspot.com 

http://smn0409.blogspot.com/                                  http://sanitywaitingtohappen.blogspot.com/                        http://www.justalittlenutty.com/                                http://hypnoticbard.blogspot.com/                            http://raisingreagan.com/                                         http://www.chewylicious.com                                   http://lifeonthesonnyside.blogspot.com/                     

http://frikkenduckie.blogspot.com/  

http://followmehome.shellybean.com                    

http://itsadomelife.com/ 

       

My subject is  "What I Will Do Differently This Christmas" and it was submitted by
http://momofbigalittlea.blogspot.com/  

Okay, this is a PERFECT topic for me, because I actually DID things differently this year! Picture if you will, a mother that looks like she's beyond exhausted, about to pull her hair out, and just completely stressed out......

That is usually me around Christmas. Normally, we wait until the very last minute to do Christmas shopping and by then, I'm ready to just hand the kids the damn presents and run and hide. No, it's not a pretty picture at ALL. While I'm running around like a lunatic, I always make the same declaration....

NEXT YEAR I WILL DO IT DIFFERENT!

That usually means that I PLAN to put money back and PLAN to start shopping in September, after we get past birthdays (the twins' birthday is in July, then we have back to school shopping, then Cailin's birthday). You know what they say about plans, right? 

Well, this year, I declared I was going to do it and, by God, I did! I didn't start in September and I didn't put money back, but I DID start early. I started in October. I put a TV and DS in layaway and slowly started to buy stuff. Here it is, the end of November and I'm about 95% done!

SUCCESS!

We are also going to get a jump on the wrapping and start doing that this week...mostly because the ONLY place we have to hide gifts is in my closet and we just know it's going to "accidentally" pop open one of these days. So, short of putting a combination lock on it, we figure wrapping the gifts is the best way to keep the surprise.

I'm also starting a new tradition of sorts this year. We are going to buy the kids new PJ's for Christmas. They get to open them on Christmas Eve. Before we tuck them in for the night, they can put their PJ's on and sip some hot cocoa while Matthew reads them a story from one of the Christmas books we have. We've done this before (and it was hilarious, because he was reading "Twas The Night Before Christmas" and instead of saying rosy cheeks, he said rosy nipples....we know what was on his mind!), but it's something I want to bring back. 

The twins (8) don't believe in Santa anymore, which is a bummer, and Cailin is still too young to really get it, but we are still setting out cookies and milk. 

I'm excited for this Christmas, for the first time in a long time. I'm not stressed, the kids got some AWESOME gifts and it's not breaking out bank account. 

So that's what I'm doing differently this Christmas!

Make sure you check out Baking In A Tornado for the next installment, which I'M lovingly dubbing.........

SECRET SUBJECT SWAP PART DEUX.