[JanH]

We buy for the inlaws whenever we find what we are looking for. They are financially well off and don't need anything, so we find fun stuff like extremely hard puzzles or some odd useful thing that they might not get themselves. The rest of the family, we start gathering ideas around sept. and start asking for lists in October/November. We start buying in Nov. and usually end up about the first week of Dec. My anniversary is then and we take the day off, eat out together for lunch and finish shopping cos I can't handle the crowds at the mall on weekends. I wrap as I go and list the packages on a master list because of all the mailing I have to do. Then I wrap our kids' gifts. Since the only people we really buy for outside of our parents are young adults and teenagers, we have to wait til they get a list of ideas going cos their wants change so quickly. Then we often buy later in dec. a gift or two off a charity tree in honor of the sweet kiddos that were given to us. Oh, and we buy a gift for each animal too cos my daughter puts out a stocking for them. lol