Will Mainers spend less during the Holidays this year? (houses, buying)

[Maineah]

We're spending less this year than last year. We told the kids to expect stuff like AAA memberships and tires and not Ipods and expensive video games.
We still spend a tidy sum on the culinary aspects of the day.
We concentrate our efforts on a great dinner and great wines. Some of which will include the following: Christmas Eve dinner is always haddock chowder with lobster, crabmeat, ham salad, tuna, and egg salad finger sandwiches,champagne and wine. We have done this same Christmas Eve for 25 years!
Christmas dinner is usually shrimp cocktail, surprize hors d'oeuvres, chips and dips, crackers and cheeses, vegetable trays and relish trays.
Venison stew or soup, onion soup, a standing rib roast of beef, a turkey, a small ham, several potato dishes, turnip and beet medley,baked squash, fresh breads, peas, beans, pickled beets, pickles, four pies, cakes and cookies, ice creams, champagne, wine,and of course Maine micro-brews.
After dinner we break out the microphones and amplifiers and sing Christmas Carols which usually morphs into Led Zeppelin by the end of the evening!
We usually have around 15 or more people.

[Elcarim]

Holy crap! I'm coming to YOUR house to eat!!

We're also cutting WAY back this year, but only because we're saving for the move. Well, I also want less to pack and haul. We're being very specific and buying only a few items that we know will be greatly appreciated and utilized by the kids.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

Holy crap! I'm coming to YOUR house to eat!!

We're also cutting WAY back this year, but only because we're saving for the move. Well, I also want less to pack and haul. We're being very specific and buying only a few items that we know will be greatly appreciated and utilized by the kids.

We have fun! My wife LOVES to have a house full of people and a pile of great food!

[tcrackly]

I think I'll get my adult friends and family lottery tix for gifts. Let fate treat 'em to a good time.
If I can make the time the rest of the gifts will come from my kitchen. I might buy for a couple of youngins...not very many left under 12 in our families. We got a new great niece or nephew due Christmas..Mom is diabetic, so if the birth goes well that should make Christmas worthwhile.


Oh, yeah, hubby and I bought our first microwave in 25 years as our gift ot each other. Popcorn all around!!

[mrs1885]

We're spending more. I refuse to participate in the 'recession'. Best way to get out of it is to spend it if you've got it. We don't have a heck of a lot, but it's more than we've had in previous years, so we'll spend more. Besides, what woman doesn't want an excuse (helping the economy) for shopping??

[AlisonL]

I think I might spend money on a plane ticket. I want to go to Maineah's for those wonderful sounding dinners.

[island mermaid]

Originally Posted by AlisonL

I think I might spend money on a plane ticket. I want to go to Maineah's for those wonderful sounding dinners.

GREAT IDEA! That sounds delicious and like a lot of fun too! Maineah says he can sing.... I tried to get him to do it the other night too. We hadn't had enough to drink yet, one more and I mighta had em' though. He did hum a few bars... or maybe we went to a few bars while he was humming....it feels like such a blur now.

[AliceT]

When you make what you give, it's hard to round it out in dollars and cents. My usual gifts to friends are candies or confections I cooked up in the kitchen or hand made soaps or birdhouses I create from gourds I grow in the garden. Depending on when I pick them, they are usually dry enough to paint and make ready for gift giving by Christmas.

The porch steps are a great place to let the dry out:

[CoastalMaine]

Awesome Alison! I didn't know you were a decorative painter too!? You paint santas on them? I've got a couple a friend painted in a Christmas swap a few years ago. Love 'em! Show us some pics of your santa babies!!!!

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Fort Lauderdale mermaid

GREAT IDEA! That sounds delicious and like a lot of fun too! Maineah says he can sing.... I tried to get him to do it the other night too. We hadn't had enough to drink yet, one more and I mighta had em' though. He did hum a few bars... or maybe we went to a few bars while he was humming....it feels like such a blur now.

Nope there wasn't enough voice lubricant in me to sing last Monday! We're usually into the second case of wine on Christmas Day. That's when we're all primed to sing! I'm not the only one in the family who sings. My brother's can both sing as can DW and the kids do OK too! My FIL can't sing but likes to howl into the microphone once in a while!