This is likely the first year ever that I began my Christmas shopping in November! It felt great - in the beginning; I was ahead of the game and feeling all too generous. And then, I realized, I was being all too generous.
I am less than a week away from the big day now and the stress has settled in as I am still not finished with my shopping and sick of spending so much money. And our family is only growing larger so I'm stressing over all the Christmas' to come too!
For the past several years, our Christmas' are spent racing through our own gift exchange, racing to my sister's home for a family get together and gift exchange, racing to my husband's parents for their family get together and gift exchange, and finally racing home to relax. However, for me, growing up, we celebrated Christmas at our own home and relaxed and played all day. I suppose our family get-togethers were done Christmas Eve or in the days after.
I'm a little worried about breaking the news to my family but I feel a change coming on. As my own family grows, the need to have our own holiday celebrations at home also grows. Unfortunately, having our own Christmas on Christmas Eve is not an option because my husband works every Christmas Eve night, coming home early on Christmas he fights sleep throughout Christmas day.
In addition, I need to get a handle on the Christmas spending; it's just way out of hand. So, I'm surfing the net for ideas and came across the following which I really liked a lot.
1) Secret Santa/Draw names. Everyone's name goes in the "pot" and each person draws one name to buy for. For added fun, the results can be kept secret and the gifts labeled "From your Secret Santa". Add a low price limit across the board to ensure fairness and ease stress. This is much easier on everyone's pocketbook, and we already do this for my husband's family get-together. It's much nicer to focus on finding that one special gift for a specific someone, rather than stressing over finding something special for so many. I recently suggested that next year we might have each person make a wish list next year, with the instruction that they will only be receiving one item from it. This will keep their lists to a minimum, naming only those things they truly desire.
2) The Elephant Game. Each person brings one (unlabeled) gift and places it under the tree (again, a low price limit can be assigned across the board to ensure fairness and discourage real fighting over a gift). Person #1 chooses a gift and opens it. Person #2 gets the option of choosing a gift from under the tree or "stealing" the gift from Person #1. Person #3 then gets the option of choosing a gift from under the tree or "stealing" the gift from the first two persons, so on and so on. Once a gift has been stolen three times, it's off limits.
3) The themed Christmas. This makes finding a gift less painful. Some theme ideas might be:
a) Recipes: Help build a cookbook for your loved ones by swapping your favorite recipe. Add to the interest, by preparing your meal to share on Christmas. It can be broad or narrowed down further by cuisine.
b) Magazine Subscriptions: A fun gift that keeps on giving. On the night of the exchanges, bring along the current issue of the magazine wrapped with a bow.
c) Books and/or DVDs: Help loved one's build there library of books or movies.
4) This game requires a $50.00 bill (more or less, or gift card, whatever) which is wrapped, rewrapped, and rewrapped again, all very tightly, a Santa hat and gloves, and dice. Begin by passing the dice around the table, each person given one chance to roll doubles and then passing to their neighbor. The first person to roll doubles begins by putting on the Santa hat and gloves and then attempting to unwrap the prize (all the while, the other players are passing the dice around rolling the dice once and trying to get doubles). Once another player finally rolls doubles, they must then sport the Santa hat and gloves and then make their unwrapping attempt. This process of desperately trying to roll doubles and unwrap the prize continues until the last person is able to reach the prize inside - this person gets to keep the prize! This is a fast paced game with a little silliness added for fun and laughter. Obviously, it is important that the prize be wrapped A LOT and tightly making it difficult to unwrapped with gloved hands.
5) Write a letter. Rather than purchasing items, why not express your love in the long lost art of your own handwriting. But this may be one gift that is sure to have tears flowing.
6) Serve others. Have each family member purchase a toy for a less fortunate child. There are several organizations in the area that make there way around handing them out to children who would have nothing. Maybe purchase a small tree and a few decorations for a family that can't afford one. Or volunteer your time for a charity.
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I suppose children are born egocentric, and some seem to never grow out of it. I do believe that it is a parental responsibility to guide their children into more generous and selfless behaviors. With our two youngest, we have made it a priority to "donate" some of our income so that they can purchase gifts for their loved ones and enjoy the gift of giving too. They are so delighted to see the reactions from everyone opening the gift the chose special for them. This is something we did not do with our three oldest sons. I suppose we wanted to be certain they received what they hoped for and many times those items were very pricey and our income/budget was much lower then. Either way, all of my kiddos have very giving natures. Now that my soldiers are both back in the states, I get to look forward to Christmas with all of them.
I'm thinking about making some enchiladas...
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