I checked the delivery confirmation # for Michelle's package and it stated it was delivered. Hopefully she will confirm soon. Thanks Jeanne for an awesome swap. We are still looking for someone to take January. I hope Maryanne, Remy, Margaret and some others in our group are ok, haven't heard from them in awhile. Jan. Feb. hazelnutbunny Mar. Apr. micyrey May mellen June brittneysgran July veeja11 Aug. Sept. Oct. flowergirl34 Nov. Dec. Jeanne, Margaret, Margo, Jen, Faye, Annie, Remy & Maryanne....step up and take a month if you can. I know we have more members than this but can't think right now of everyone. Shirley

lots of times it's not what's IN the package as much as it is the FACT of the package. So you could get a bunch of identical gift boxes, and fill them w/ just-slightly-fancy or slightly unusual candy--not that many pieces, really, so a large bag could cover lots of people. Then do some sort of slightly fancy wrapping--use a color ink-jet printer to print out a "sleeve" that simply wraps around the middle of the box. Look at Martha Stewart Weddings for wedding-favor packing ideas.

every year, my husband's family promises 'token gifts only' and every year we cheat. pitched in last year, and got mom a new stereo for the kitchen. the year before, we got dad the 'ultra white' light he had been qketching was too expensive, couldn't possibly work like that ;) but I discovered patchwork this year, and in the process of making my first lap rugs, was left with some squares that gave me the bright idea to do pot holder sets for everyone who ought to get a gift, but whom we're not so connected with we know what old movie or oddity they would like (the drummer gets sticks, the artists get nice brushes or art 'rolls' to store them in) so everyone's getting really cool, oversized potholders (a pair of 10" squares, and a larger 'trivet' that run 11x17 or so) in colors to match their kitchen, or their dishes, or their dining room, depending on how they usually cook ;) and I only have two sets that I needed to BUY fabric for, everything else was stuff I had on hand (ok, I'm a fabric packrat) :)

My online shopping was all good: Kohl's, Best Buy, LL Bean, Land's End, Amazon and Ebay. I have my items sent to work as our neighborhood has sadly had things stolen from porches. There were some things I ordered late and they have not arrived yet - but I knew the dates were post-Christmas when I ordered. Only one is a semi-gift (a jacket for my husband who lost a lot of weight and needs one in a smaller size). The upside of those is that I'm shipping them to Son#1's place of work, as I won't be back to my own job for a couple of weeks. So we're going to meet him for dinner once he has both my orders. Katlan's rude checkout clerk reminded me of my rude clerk story from several years ago. I was buying Christmas ornaments to decorate a metal tree I'd gotten from a specialty store. The sum total was probably more than I'd spent for the tree itself. I was buying a couple of other things too. As the clerk was ringing the things up we realized that there was something wrong with one of the boxes I was buying. The clerk ended up being really rude about it. We finished the purchase with the plan that I would go way back to the seasonal section to get another box - even the cashier manager had come over to help because she heard the rude cashier. However, after starting to walk back to switch the boxes, instead I turned around and went over to customer service and told them I wanted to return everything. Everything?! Yes. I said that the clerk had been really rude and and that made me mentally step back and realize that I was overspending. Customer service wanted to know who the clerk had been, but I said that I understood that it's the stressful Christmas shopping season and I didn't want to point her out, but just wanted my money back. (I ended up getting the tree ornaments from Joanne Fabrics and used some JF Bucks I had to pay!) I guess a thank you to the rude clerk for helping me to spend less?