Last minute Christmas

last minute gift and travel ideas for Christmas

Thu19Jun2025

LastMinuteChristmas.com

Last Minute Christmas

43 Weeks Until Christmas

Friends, it’s 43 weeks until Christmas and it’s a great time to be an elf. It’s a wonderful time to be an elf.  The best decision I ever made was to become an elf. And you can become an elf, too.  I...

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10 Months Until Christmas

It’s just 10 months to Christmas! I know that to many of you that is a very long time. But to me and most elves here at the North Pole, that is not very long at all.  What’s happening right now at...

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44 Weeks Until Christmas

44 Weeks to Christmas, gang! Before you know it our little weekly countdown will be in the 30s. Where does the time go?  I wanna talk about the North Pole Post Office a little bit with ya. I’m...

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45 Weeks Until Christmas

45 weeks to Christmas now, guys, and guess what? Valentine’s Day is coming up! Some of you have written to the North Pole to ask about how Valentine’s Day happens here. I can tell you that it is only...

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46 Weeks Until Christmas

Another week has gone by and we’ve got just 46 more weeks to go until Christmas. Some of you have sent in questions about my baby reindeer, Trixie. (Yes, I named her after me because,...

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47 Weeks Until Christmas

47 weeks until Christmas, as of today! Where does the time go, kids? Hahaha…that’s me trying to sound like an old person. Here at the North Pole I’m one of the youngest working...

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And then what happened?

Years ago a co-worker related a narrative to me that I think she said she had heard on the radio, told by a man about his wife's efforts to host a Martha Stewart Christmas for their family. I've always wanted to track it down and find out how it ended. Can you help identify it? My co-worker would have told me this story in the late nineties, so it would definitely be dated pre-2000. I think she said she heard on the radio, and that she might have said it was on the CBC, but I don't have any more information regarding the source or author or date.

I do, however, remember the story very clearly, and here it is so far as she related it to me:

One year this man's wife received a Martha Stewart Christmas book for Christmas, and she became fired up with the ambition to host an elaborate and perfect Martha Stewart-style Christmas for their entire family the next year. She began working on this project of hers in January, and worked on it intensively for the entire year. She had a number of friends who decided they wanted to have a Martha Stewart Christmas too, and they would all get together once a month to make some sort of craft or recipe for their Christmas celebrations.

One evening in October or November of that year, the man suggested to his wife that perhaps she was getting carried away with her preparations for what was, after all, going to be just one day. His wife became very upset with him and said, "Do you know what I am? I'm a train! And I'm running full speed! AND I'M NOT GOING TO STOP UNTIL I PULL INTO CHRISTMAS STATION!" The husband decided he should probably not get in the way of this train, so he asked her if there was anything he could to help her. His wife said, "You can do the turkey." He promptly agreed that yes, he would be responsible for the turkey.

On Christmas Eve, everything was in readiness, the house was decorated to the nines, the pantry was stuffed full of Christmas goodies, his wife had just gone around the house and spritzed the candle arrangements with a handmixed apple cinnamon scent, and the two of them were getting ready for bed, when she asked him if he'd remembered to take the turkey out of the freezer to thaw. That's when it occurred to the husband for the first time that, when his wife had asked him to do the turkey, she had meant he would be responsible for buying the turkey, and that consequently, it was 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve and there was no turkey for his wife's Martha Stewart Christmas that she had spent an entire year preparing for.

My co-worker said there was more to this story, but she didn't relate the rest of it, and I've always wanted to know what happened (i.e., did the husband, say, find himself on a platter with an apple in his mouth on Christmas Day?).

Does this story sound familiar to anyone?

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11 Months Until Christmas

Hi ho! It is a new year and a new countdown here on Santa Update — just 11 months remain until Christmas! We told you earlier this month about all the meetings Santa has been holding to plan...

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48 Weeks Until Christmas

It is just 48 weeks until Christmas! Ok…I know. That’s a long, long time. But hey. That’s my job. To keep you guys on track with things. That’s one thing y’all gotta...

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Santa Holds Meetings to Plan for Christmas

Santa is holding meetings today to plan for Christmas 2021. Everything from Santa’s sleigh to toy production is on the table for discussion. Last Christmas was very successful. We tried a lot...

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What is being depicted on this old greeting card?

I found this image online and find it intriguing. I’m wondering if anyone would know anything the scene? I know that the lion and the unicorn are sometimes symbols of England and Scotland but not sure where that would fit in. Who are the people shown leaving at the top left of the picture? Is that a harp coming in to the frame between them and the unicorn? What’s with the umbrella?

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What should I say here?

So my parents did not get my kid anything for Christmas. There is a complicated family dynamic with a million moving parts, but I need a way to gently say to them, "This is hurtful." Help? This is a bare-bones description of some of the moving parts:
-- Parents = my father + stepmother (married 30+ years)
-- In my generation: Stepmother has always exhibited massive favoritism for one of her bio children. Her other bio child + me & my bio sibling are frequently left out. It's annoying as hell but also we're all grown-ups at this point so whatever.
-- In the grandchildren generation: As grandparents, my dad & stepmom have shown less favoritism, seeming to cherish all the grandchildren equally.
-- Grandparents are, stupidly, doing that thing where they haven't been taking Covid seriously enough.
-- All of us non-favorites in my generation are taking it very seriously, but the favorite in my generation isn't.
-- Which led to grandparents flying (!!!) to see the favorite and their family this xmas. This whole family was handsomely rewarded with presents, new home furnishings, just a parade of benefits. It's ridiculous, but again I don't really care on my behalf.
-- None of this would have been a very big deal but at the end of Xmas Day we had a family Zoom where those grandchildren were showing off all their stuff they got from Grandma and Grandpa, while my kid sat there on my end realizing that they didn't get him anything -- not even a card.
-- My child has no other grandparents to gift him anything -- some are dead; the other living grandparent is ill enough that presents are out of the question.
-- There's absolutely the sucky Covid element. Kid only got boring old Mom and Dad to gift him, after 10 months at home, Thanksgiving with just the three of us, etc. It's hard to watch everyone out there having fun without him!

I'd like to find a somewhat gentle way of saying to the grandparents that this sucked, that my kid felt bad. I need it to be separate from "give my kid stuff!" and more like "my kid really loves you, and you're his grandparents, and it would really be nice to show him how much you care for him on a major holiday." And/or "It was hard for Kid to see his cousins and their mountain of presents, knowing he received nothing." There is definitely *a lot* of other family baggage here, so I'm needing to find a way where I discuss this one element, not the mountain of trash that is Everything Wrong.

Can you help me with a script and/or some thoughts of what I should be considering at this moment?

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Merry Christmas and Thank You

Merry Christmas from all of us at the North Pole! As the snow is still falling here at the North Pole all hearts here are merry and grateful. It has been a record breaking season and an unusual year....

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North Pole Welcomes Santa Home

NORTH POLE RADIO NEWS About the Tracking Santa Live Radio Broadcast OPERATION MERRY CHRISTMAS STATUS Sector 1 – Oceania, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific: ACTIVE Sector 2 – Asia...

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Final Visits Being Made Now By Santa

NORTH POLE RADIO NEWS About the Tracking Santa Live Radio Broadcast OPERATION MERRY CHRISTMAS STATUS Sector 1 – Oceania, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific: ACTIVE Sector 2 – Asia...

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Santa Back Over the Pacific

NORTH POLE RADIO NEWS About the Tracking Santa Live Radio Broadcast OPERATION MERRY CHRISTMAS STATUS Sector 1 – Oceania, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific: ACTIVE Sector 2 – Asia...

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Santa Picks Up Mrs. Claus in Hawaii

NORTH POLE RADIO NEWS About the Tracking Santa Live Radio Broadcast OPERATION MERRY CHRISTMAS STATUS Sector 1 – Oceania, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific: ACTIVE Sector 2 – Asia...

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Alaska Reports!

NORTH POLE RADIO NEWS About the Tracking Santa Live Radio Broadcast OPERATION MERRY CHRISTMAS STATUS Sector 1 – Oceania, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific: ACTIVE Sector 2 – Asia...

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Santa Heads West Towards Alaska

NORTH POLE RADIO NEWS About the Tracking Santa Live Radio Broadcast OPERATION MERRY CHRISTMAS STATUS Sector 1 – Oceania, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific: ACTIVE Sector 2 – Asia...

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Sector 5 Finally Stands Down

NORTH POLE RADIO NEWS About the Tracking Santa Live Radio Broadcast OPERATION MERRY CHRISTMAS STATUS Sector 1 – Oceania, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific: ACTIVE Sector 2 – Asia...

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Washington State Welcomes Back Santa to the USA

NORTH POLE RADIO NEWS About the Tracking Santa Live Radio Broadcast OPERATION MERRY CHRISTMAS STATUS Sector 1 – Oceania, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific: ACTIVE Sector 2 – Asia...

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Santa Still in Canada

NORTH POLE RADIO NEWS About the Tracking Santa Live Radio Broadcast OPERATION MERRY CHRISTMAS STATUS Sector 1 – Oceania, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific: ACTIVE Sector 2 – Asia...

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Santa Plays a Little Hockey

NORTH POLE RADIO NEWS About the Tracking Santa Live Radio Broadcast OPERATION MERRY CHRISTMAS STATUS Sector 1 – Oceania, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific: ACTIVE Sector 2 – Asia...

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Santa Heads for Western Canada

NORTH POLE RADIO NEWS About the Tracking Santa Live Radio Broadcast OPERATION MERRY CHRISTMAS STATUS Sector 1 – Oceania, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific: ACTIVE Sector 2 – Asia...

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