Is your Chirstmas Shopping Done?

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-30-2007
Is your Chirstmas Shopping Done?
1906
Wed, 11-28-2007 - 3:46pm

Is your Chirstmas Shopping Done?



  • Yes all done
  • Yes exept for stocking stuffers
  • Almost completely done
  • Half way finished
  • Have some more people to shop for
  • Havent even started yet
  • Oh shoot!? Its chirstmas already?


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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Fri, 12-07-2007 - 11:47am

<<My mom enjoys to do things for the kids and if she wants to be a grandma, then why can't she be? She is able to afford more things now then when she had her own children and she would rather see them enjoy them now instead of when she is gone. >>


Enjoy them?

PumpkinAngel

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2000
Fri, 12-07-2007 - 11:49am
Wrong.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Fri, 12-07-2007 - 11:49am
Really? My dd knows how much things cost and and is able to determine what to put on her Christmas list as when mommy and daddy say that is too expensive, she can look into something else she would like just the same.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Fri, 12-07-2007 - 11:50am

But again, you aren't her and vice versa.

PumpkinAngel

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Fri, 12-07-2007 - 11:51am

Most mainstream Christian denominations have an official way of approving the budget and accounting for income that is pretty transparent.

I'm a United Methodist, which is a "connectional" denomination. We have both local churches and dioceses and a national umbrella organization.

Most of what is collected over the course of the year goes toward local expenses: Paying off the building loan (we recently expanded), paying staff salaries and benefits, upkeep on the church, utility bills, etc. Then there is the cost of running a worship service: Music, candles, vestments, etc. Then there is the cost of running a religious education program. Curriculum is the biggest expense there, but it's more than you think. We give something between 500 and 1000 dollars a month to local charities -- things like after-school programs, the food bank, Meals on Wheels, etc. Basically, all loose change and dollar bills in the collection plate is for that. We have a covenant partner church in Mogadishu, Mozambique and we pay for about 50% of the cost of running that church. We also pay appportionments to the diocese and to the national organization for both administration and relief work.

We have different committees of the church that oversees expenses for different areas of ministry: A worship committee, Staff-parish Relations Committee, Trustees, Youth, Children's Ministy, Missions, Adult and Family Ministries, stuff like that. They plan programs in their area, submit budget requests, get half of what they ask for (lol!) and then are accountable for whatever is spent annually.

In a large church that has been there for awhile, some of the income is likely to come from special funds and bequests and annuities and stuff like that. That money is often designated for special purposes. We've got a pretty large music endowment, for instance, a bequest from someone who apparently loved church music. It allows us to do stuff like bring in special musicians or have special events -- like the performance of Handel's Messiah coming up Saturday. We also have another one that is designated for "capital improvements."

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Fri, 12-07-2007 - 11:53am

Yes....most people that I know,

PumpkinAngel

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Fri, 12-07-2007 - 11:54am
My kids are 15, 12, and 11, and two out of three of them would LOVE a gift card from Starbucks! The boys LOVE the chai tea lattes. They only get them VERY occasionally.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Fri, 12-07-2007 - 11:55am
My kids seem to go through clothes alot as they enjoy crafts with paints and markers and such. Shoes get ruined also as my kids play hard. While we could afford everything they need, it is nice that my mom likes to get them extra things and find it very odd that this is actually a question.
Are you really not into clothes, shoes, fashion? Don't you like your children to look nice? A couple of extra outfits and shoes helps so when they ruin one, there is something else they can go out in and look decent.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Fri, 12-07-2007 - 11:56am

Is this my fault as well?


PumpkinAngel

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-05-2007
Fri, 12-07-2007 - 11:56am
We have a once a year bus. mtg where it's all disclosed.

*********

Ducky

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