Tag: Christmas presents

Categories
Family

Why is it my job to organise everything for Christmas?

Why is it that the wife or female partner seems to organise everything for Christmas.

Some of the things that are left to me are:

  • Planning and buying Christmas Presents
  • Cleaning and tidying the house
  • Organising the kids
  • Wrapping the presents
  • Mailing the presents
  • Buying and cooking the food
  • Making the food
Let's hope that my presents look this nice once wrapped up. I'm sure no one will care once they rip off the paper to get to the present.
Let’s hope that my presents look this nice once wrapped up. I’m sure no one will care once they rip off the paper to get to the present.

My family only buy for the kids. The adults have everything they need or want, and I suppose if someone really needs something they either buy it themselves or might get it as a gift from others at a later stage.

Since my family is sorted and I just need to get kids presents then this leaves hubby’s family.

Hubby’s family buy for everyone which is nice, but if you are me and have limited time and really not sure what to get people it is hard indeed.

There are only so many times you can get someone a cup or another item that will get pushed to the back of the cupboard, and possibly never used.

I like to get people something different, interesting gifts that they would not get for themselves. I also love to buy things that people will use, want and need.

Buying people gifts that they will indeed need and use is hard when you are not sure what they have or really would like for Christmas.

I tried to employ a tactic this year to make hubby get responsible for his families present buying. He used the excuse that he is busy with work and therefore doesn’t have any time to do this shopping. He also used the other angle of not knowing what to purchase.

Geeez like I am a present seer and can know exactly what is in people’s brains. Maybe I am. Maybe I have an inner gift or special skill that I am unaware of.

One approach I used was to say that since hubby was near a big shopping centre he could go to Thursday late night shopping. Shop alone and without kids, think about what to get and then secretly bring it all back. This I thought would alleviate stress and make things easier on both of us.

He, of course, did not like this idea….. typical I thought.

I still don’t see why running around like a mad person to get things for everyone is all up to me!

Due to not getting the time to touch base of what I had already purchased and to think of what items we give to what family member it is hard to know what we still need to purchase.

Today I managed to get hubby to see all the things I have already got and we did a stocktake of items we still need to get.

Due to hubby not willing to do the shopping and the fact that Christmas is nearly here, I said the following:

“If you are not willing to go and get the shopping for your family, and now the kids are on holiday it makes it harder for me. I’m not taking the kids shopping with me to finalise the present shopping. I’ll go on Saturday and do it on my own. You mind the kids and I will have the day to get it done”

So I have spent a day by myself at the shops mostly trying to get the missing presents we needed.

I took a break from shopping to have some food and a much-needed coffee. Yummy!
I took a break from shopping to have some food and a much-needed coffee. Yummy!

Being out by myself today is a good outcome of having to do the present shopping. I get a well-deserved break. Quiet time and can finally enter shops without telling kids to not touch things and be always on alert.

It is a very hot day and I have finally found a place that is air-conditioned to have a cool drink and a snack before I get the final present and then food for the house.

I think next year I will go on strike and hubby can organise everything.

Being in a paid job is not the only criteria for being busy and not having time to get things done. I have three kids, until recently they were in school and due to the end of the year, there were functions to be at which meant I had to be at the school until about 11am. This then meant that I had less than an hour to get something done for me and then to be back at school for 2.55pm.

Now kids are on holiday I cannot get things done without taking them with me. The baby will still be going to care so that is a plus and I’m grateful for that.

I too have a job (I blog) and have deadlines and commitments. It is a hard juggle and like any working mum would tell you it is busy.

Have you had the chat to your boyfriend/husband or partner about why it seems like it is all up to you? Have you put your hands in the air and declared that you are on strike?

I think a strike is needed next year.

I am so tired and there still more to do:

  • Cleaning the house
  • Removing clutter
  • Wrapping presents
  • And possibly much more than I have forgotten about now.

Does this happen at your house?

You are the one that organises everything for everybody? I am exhausted and it is not Christmas yet.

Or do you share the Christmas organsiation at your place?  Let us know how it works?

I am glad that I have had some time alone but could have lived without racing around getting last minute gifts.

Originally posted 17 December 2017

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Categories
Family

The Pains and Joy of Helping With LEGO

Have you ever been asked to help kids with LEGO?  It might start out innocently and happy, but at times that happy LEGO bubble will go south.

Only the other day the girls asked mummy and daddy to help them with their new Harry Potter LEGO sets that they got for Christmas.

Santa was super generous with the LEGO and obviously knew that the twins are super obsessed with Harry Potter.

Harry Potter Aragog's Lair - LEGO 75950 Playset
Harry Potter Aragog’s Lair – LEGO 75950 Playset

One kid got the Harry Potter Hogwarts Great Hall – LEGO 75954 Playset and the other got Harry Potter Hogwarts Express- LEGO 75955 Playset

Santa was also kind enough to give them the following set to share –Harry Potter Aragog’s Lair – LEGO 75950 Playset

Now aside from Aragog’s Lair the other two sets are HUGE! There are what looks like thousands of bricks and things to sort.

One kid decided that they would build the Lair first and that was super easy, aside from missing a piece, but sorted quickly and painlessly at the customer support page on the LEGO website. Easy, sorted and we moved on to the other sets.

The twin that received the Hogwart’s Express wanted to do this first. She is not as confident with LEGO as her sister is and wanted to get some help from mummy. I was keen to see it built and of course said yes. Alexander was at care and we filled the floor of the living room with LEGO and also watched the first film in the Harry Potter series.

Watching a film while building LEGO is a painful process. Nothing gets done and if it does it is sooooooooooooooooooo slow. Painful to watch and be around. I decided that I would do my own thing until I am asked if she needed help.

The idea was to build the train and then move onto Hogwarts Great Hall, however it was taking hours and still not complete with the train.

The kid in question was doing a great job with her Harry Potter train, she was checking the instructions and making sure she had all the right pieces available to build what was needed. She did need a helping hand but mostly she did it all herself.

Having fun building Harry Potter Hogwarts Express- LEGO 75955 Playset
Having fun building Harry Potter Hogwarts Express- LEGO 75955 Playset

I was and am very proud of her doing it all herself and I could see her getting more and more confident and sure of herself. I told her how well she was doing, I made sure to explain how well she was following the instructions and that the train looked amazing so far. It’s still not finished but not long to go to have a completed model of the Hogwarts Express.

Due to the fact that the train construction was taking forever I explained to her sister that she should start building the Hogwarts Great Hall. She was excited to start and wanted my help, however this all went down hill when we struggled to find some essential bricks to help us build the Great Hall. It was discovered after a lot of upset that one bag of bricks had fallen out in the twins room.

Once we had the bag of missing items things started moving quicker, however due to not finding the right items this kid opened up all bags of LEGO and it was scattered all over the living room floor!

Daddy was called in as apparently I was not saying or doing the right things for the kid who was constructing the Great Hall.

He didn’t know if he should do it, or just help and the kid should be building it or what level of help was okay before it got met with annoyance, anger and tears.

These LEGO sets are big and they do take a while to build, we only had less than an hour to build it before I had to collect Alex from care.  It seems sad, as we had all day and then it was a mad scramble to get it done in less than an hour.

Getting there building Hogwarts Express, and having fun
Getting there building Hogwarts Express, and having fun

As you might imagine, all remaining blocks for each set have been put in a sealed bag and waiting for another day when we can build the rest of the models. I cannot wait to see the train finished and also Hogwarts Great Hall.

I love LEGO and I’m so proud of how the girls can look at the instructions and know what to do. Both girls have gained confidence with constructing sets to look exactly like it should and also use skills from other sets to build their own creations.

LEGO is such a great educational toy, they are playing and not even realising they are learning at the same time.

Have you been involved in some major LEGO creations? Let us know and send in photos to Facebook to show us.

 

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Categories
4 years and beyond

Presents Galore

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This Christmas my twins were so spoilt. The girls got a wonderful kaleidoscope from GG (Great Grandmother) and their Great Aunt and got many wonderful things from other relatives. The presents kept coming as we went to relatives on Boxing day, at least this year they don’t think every house they go to they will receive presents.

Last year and the year before each person we visited had presents for the girls, this was due to the fact we had not seen friends and family over the Christmas and holidays and when we did they had surprises for the twins, hence them thinking that the presents kept on coming.

Not sure what to do with all the things they ended up getting and there were some double ups but that is o.k, will put things in the car to make sure that we have things when we go to the park.  Have you had kids expect presents at every turn after Christmas. Julia was in tears on Boxing Day morning when we told her that Christmas was over and no more presents, well except from Grandma and Grandad.

Do your kids end up getting so much stuff and things? I need to seriously go through all their toys and things to get rid of what is not needed and used. It would be lovely to have more space but then again if we had more space we would have more things.

How was your Christmas? Ours was good but long and exhausting as we had to visit two households in very different parts wpid-Photo-25-12-12-6-34-14-AM.jpgof Sydney.  I hope you had a great time and Santa was good to you. We were very lucky as Santa came and blessed us with wonderful gifts. Send in your comments.