We bought steak and all sorts of beef under budget this weekend. I am soo happy there is no more chicken. I love chicken, but there's only so much you can take. Anyway, I did some Christmas Shopping this weekend and I must say we are almost done with our lists. I also bought a crockpot (despite having one w/o a timer) with a timer to cook meals while we aren't home. I must admit I'm a little worried how it's going to work out. This weekend we paid a total of $385 broken down as the following: $160 for groceries from Costco, $45 for the Crockpot, $157 for DH and my brother's gift(an IPOD Shuffle) and $22 for insulated thermoses. If all goes according to plan our cards will be ready to go out by Nov.1 but we'll actually mail them out around Thanksgiving and our gifts will be bought by the end of Thanksgiving. As for the decorations and tree, we've decided to purchase our first real tree and wreath for the door. We hope to spend no more than $100 for both. Is that too high/low? I've only had artificial trees growing up.