Though we are not allowed Christmas in our house until after Thanksgiving I do start my Christmas shopping a tad earlier than that - December 26th.
I keep an eye open year round for the perfect gifts - be it a copy of the novel The Wicker Man for my brother or a pair of clip on earrings for my grandmother. Some people are easy to buy for and I know I am safe not to shop until after Thanksgiving, others prove much trickier and so I have to look year round or I run the risk of resorting to Ribbon Candy (oh how I love Ribbon Candy).
Years ago Husby and I realised we were spending far too much money on Christmas and so set ourselves a limit of $10 per person. We go over on some and under on others depending on what I find but it's a lot more cost efficient and has actually been a lot more fun. We also don't have a limit on nephews and nieces because well I have no qualms about dropping money on them! They are 16, 14 and 12 now and thankfully the Children's Place started making their Fleecy PJ's in adult sizes or I don't know what I'd do!!
The nicest thing we do at Christmas is for each other. We have a $5 limit (not including shipping) which makes gift giving very challenging but also a ton of fun. We have been doing that for four years now but our reasoning is different than saving money. I am touched by how many people have so little and so one year we decided that instead of buying for each other we would take the collective $100 we usually spent and buy presents for Toys for Tots. Now that's what we do - $5 each and $100 on gifts for charities in our area. In 2008 I actually joined in with the local wrapping and distribution for our town's Christmas Toy Box, Having a three month old kept me from it last year but maybe this time...
Last year we didn't buy anything for Toby because well, he was getting a ton of stuff from everyone and really didn't need anything other than the Christmas Outfit I got him. This year, I struggle with how to not go overboard with this wonderful little boy of mine. His First Christmas Box from us is this awesome eco-truck. I'm not green, I throw away more things than I recycle but man do I love this line of trucks...
It's a little bigger than his head and I can't wait to play with it, I mean have him play with it of course :-)So what is reasonable for a one year old's Christmas?
Last year we got the babe a couple little reader books, which weren't appreciated until much later. This year, with him being 1, we are getting him a noah's ark play set, and that's it. Figure all the aunt's, uncles, grandparents, et al will be showering him with gifts.
ReplyDeleteSame was his birthday last month, he got quite a few things so we actually put a couple away for future. I'm thinking we'll do the same with some Christmas gifts and slowly bring out new toys.