Grinch Quilt and the story behind it!

[jfugina]

This is outstanding! I am filing away this story for when Nicole figures all this out and decides to ruin it all for Jake. And I adore that quilt - totally cute. Your DS should get a kick out of it.

[azemigh]

Here are a few tips on how we performed this trickery. We cut out cardboard feet and dusted around them with white flour for Santa prints and dried oregano for the Grinch prints. I came across the letter from Santa a few years ago, so I know it is somewhere amongst the kids' memorabilia, if you need any help composing the letter. My DH wanted to move the whole tree and hide it in the basement, but I nixed that. There just wasn't time to undo the tree and then redo it again. We also, made sure we took every present that had Paul's name on it, including his stocking. I think that's what set him off initially, because we always let them open stockings early, while all the adults were enjoying coffee and goodies. I wish I had written down all the good deeds he had to perform that day, I must have been trying to hold in my laughter all day and didn't think to record everything.

[nancine]

what a great story, and love the quilt! He'll be so touched when he opens it!

[jfugina]

That's so cool. I wish I had any energy left by Christmas to pull off anything clever. I just want it to all be over with. Kids are being rotten to the core, and I'm too tired/lazy to actually take anything back to the store. I could donate half the presents, but even that takes effort to get them from under my tree to where they would need to go.

This year, I've pretty well convinced myself that "Santa" is going to write a letter to my children, explaining that they're walking on very thin ice. And that if the sleigh hadn't already been carefully loaded, he would definitely have given some of their stuff to someone else. I hate to be that mean, but I swear if their holiday behavior gets any worse, I'm going to have to sell them to the first bidder!

[pugmom]

That's so cool. I wish I had any energy left by Christmas to pull off anything clever. I just want it to all be over with. Kids are being rotten to the core, and I'm too tired/lazy to actually take anything back to the store. I could donate half the presents, but even that takes effort to get them from under my tree to where they would need to go.

This year, I've pretty well convinced myself that "Santa" is going to write a letter to my children, explaining that they're walking on very thin ice. And that if the sleigh hadn't already been carefully loaded, he would definitely have given some of their stuff to someone else. I hate to be that mean, but I swear if their holiday behavior gets any worse, I'm going to have to sell them to the first bidder!

Maybe you could trade with Pam, she's RAKing her child and animals

[mpizzazz]

That's so cool. I wish I had any energy left by Christmas to pull off anything clever. I just want it to all be over with. Kids are being rotten to the core, and I'm too tired/lazy to actually take anything back to the store. I could donate half the presents, but even that takes effort to get them from under my tree to where they would need to go.

This year, I've pretty well convinced myself that "Santa" is going to write a letter to my children, explaining that they're walking on very thin ice. And that if the sleigh hadn't already been carefully loaded, he would definitely have given some of their stuff to someone else. I hate to be that mean, but I swear if their holiday behavior gets any worse, I'm going to have to sell them to the first bidder!

Maybe you could still make this work without a lot of returns/donations on your part. Just give them some of the presents and leave a note from Santa that their behaviour has been so bad, etc, etc. Then use something like Rachelle's 'good deeds' so they earn the rest of the presents. Or save them for their birthdays. Most kids get way too much stuff anyway. Do they have any concept about donating toys or clothes to people who don't have as much as they do? Do they 'buy' or make presents for the rest of the family? I don't think it's being 'mean', I think it is teaching them that this isn't all about 'getting' but about 'giving' as well.

[jfugina]

Marianne - we do take the kids shopping for things to donate, and we make them give the donation. Like we go to the toy store and get something to put in the toys for tots bin. And the whole time both kids are asking for every other thing they see for themselves, and it's a whole exercise in "we're not shopping for you right now". We also shop for items for the Crisis Nursery (drive sponsored by Day Care) and the families adopted through Nicole's school. The kids are totally fine with giving to others - as long as it doesn't impact their pile.

I've basically decided that I'm not going to waste my time or energy taking back the few things that they are getting this year. I really did scale back quite a bit as it is. Instead, I've been telling them that there are things I've already taken back to the store because of their poor behavior. Amazingly, it hasn't seemed to make a bit of difference. They pitch a fit, and then go right back to their unacceptable ways.

They're definitely getting a note from Santa this year. I've been revising my opinion about what it will say. It will state that some of the items they had asked for had to come out of the bag because of their naughty behavior. He'll say that he'll put them away for next year, and keep an eye out all year to see if they've learned their lesson. I will probably also target a few items that the elves will come back for if they don't demonstrate some appreciation and respect for what was brought.

Sooooo ready for next year.