“Hooray! No school on Monday,” my kids yelled when they saw the snow falling last weekend.
“Not likely,” I told them based on weather reports that we were only supposed to get a light dusting in our neck of the woods (and hoping they were right).
Earthquakes, floods, a hurricane and now snow in October? This is Virginia after all! Just when we thought it was time to rake the leaves, we nearly had to drag out our snow shovels and ice scrapers. But it appeared that we dodged a bullet this time, as many of our neighbors up north had power outages due to snowfalls measured in feet, not inches.
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I reminded my kids they already used up one snow day when we got the flooding rain. That only leaves two remaining, and we still have a long winter ahead of us.
The news reported we had only .2” and I think that was a stretch, but with the mercury falling, the end of daylight savings time and especially the snow, it really gets me in the mood to start my holiday shopping.
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We’ve already received many of the store’s big toy books in the mail, and my kids are busy circling and putting stars by items as they create their wish lists. It’s all a stark reminder that the holidays will be here in the blink of an eye.
I always try to get a good start and get as much as I can of my holiday shopping done on Veteran’s Day. Since my kids don’t have that day off from school, it leaves me a full day to hit the stores.
With this always being the fastest two months of the year, my goal this year is to purchase all the gifts for family members that have to be sent in the mail by the end of this week. This will allow me to pack and ship off those presents before the holiday rush. Then I plan to get the rest of my shopping done by the end of Thanksgiving weekend.
l must confess though, that I say that every year, and no matter how soon I think I get all of my shopping done, I always panic at the last minute and get worried that I don’t have enough for everyone and end up overspending.
I also get a little worried that when buying gifts this early in the season, if any of the items need to be returned once they are opened come December 25, it may not be within the return window of some stores.
As far as getting more of the white stuff anytime soon, I think we are ok. After all, official winter is a full six weeks away. But as far as holiday shopping – it's less than three weeks until Black Friday!
