April 1st

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Happy Easter... April Fools

Today is April 1st - cold and rainy maybe some severe storms. We are now officially 4 months into the year. Wow time sure does fly. Since I like to purchase 12 gifts per person for Christmas I had better get busy.  You know the old song - 12 Days of Christmas.... I have Kristina's finished. I am almost done with Lara, Casi and James' is started. The granddaughters I have started as well as the grandsons. Son-in-laws are started, my hubby well not yet. It seems some folks is harder to shop for than others. Kristina was easy.... Clothes. She loves clothes.  Lara well she loves clothes too, and she loves crafts and sewing and cooking and .... well Lara just loves just about everything. Casi is harder to buy for... she does need some new clothes... but she is finally putting on some weight so I am not sure what size and she loves to read... Books and clothes and well I don't know what else... maybe some Cologne that her boys love that I wear. James well what do you get for someone that goes out and buys exactly what they want when they want it. Maybe some new pants that he needs, maybe some shaving gear, maybe some gas gift cards... wow... think, think and think some more. The granddaughters go to a private school that wears uniforms... so no school clothes.... they both love makeup.... they love music... itune cards maybe.... I know the clothes they want so maybe a few after school clothes. They both love sports also. The grandsons are into video games... one loves pirates... when I find pirates stuff I buy it. They also love itunes.  They are not into sports like the girls, so no sports stuff.  My newest grandbaby. She will be easy.... well maybe not.... it seems that the toy market has forgotten about very young children. I did find a snowsuit for her, however I am going to give that to her for her birthday. Hummmm, what will Katelyn want? At the rate she is picking things up she will be wanting an Ipad by Christmas.... No grandma and grandpa are not purchasing you an Ipad unless we win the lottery....  Son-in-law #1 purchases things he wants just like our son. So he is hard to buy for.... He loves Red Lobster, could probably use gas cards and he really likes scratch-offs. Son-in-law #2 loves to cook, watch sports and play on his Ipad. Hummm I think he may get the canner he wants and then a bunch of canning jars.... 11 of them... LOL... Maybe a cookbook, I don't think he needs any more ties or shirts... Maybe a new wallet.... See the challenge... This is why I shop year round.... I see something someone may like or would like to have... it is at a great price.... it looks of good quality.... Woohoo!
My husband is usually pretty easy... he can always use new underwear.... and he likes to listen to CDs in his truck and his mp3 player when he is riding his motorcycle.... This year I think he will get the GoPro camera. He has been looking at it, so maybe that will be his main gift. He would probably like a gift card from Barnes and Nobles for his color Nook.
While I am on my vacation I will shop for a few gifts. I hope I get finished before the Christmas rush. I will not be going out shopping on black Friday. Just not my thing. I guess since I worked in retail to pay my way through college, I know the deals are not that "sweet." I know most of the merchandise is special deals the business gets and usually is not of good quality or was left-overs. I can remember going through boxes of old merchandise they would bring up from storage and we would mark it with new tags and priced it low. So I know most of those deals are not that great. Also if you will notice the law states that the only requirement for an advertised sale good is that you have at least one of the item. You don't have to offer rain checks either.
My husband and I did go black Friday shopping once. We went for the computer deal at Best Buy. We stood in line for hours.... freezing cold outside....only to be told they didn't have the printer to go with the computer so they couldn't sell it to us for the stated price. We could pay more... but not for that price.... rip off.
So here it is April 1st... I am thinking of Christmas.... I know that time seems to go by quickly.
I am sitting here thinking... In August, when school starts, I would always tell my students, "Hope you have your Christmas shopping done." They would laugh and tell me that it was months away... Soon it would be Thanksgiving. They would say, "I should have listened to you. I don't have anytime to do my Christmas shopping. Are you done?" "Yeeep!" I would always reply.
So here's to you..... Get your Christmas shopping done. It's not that far away. And another note... remember where you hide things or make a secret list... if you don't you may find things years later... I did... when we were packing to move to our new home. And I said to myself... the kids are too old for these now.... And that Christmas I kept saying I know there something missing. LOL