Starting to sweat because it is 11 weeks till the big day!
11 weeks till I have to pull all the stops out and make it memorable.
11 weeks till Santa comes down my tiny chimney and fills the stocking with magical fun!
What are you secrets? How are you going to go BIG without breaking the bank? How are you going to convince your little ones it is magic without missing a mortgage payment. We have been fortunate to pay cash for the holidays the last few years. I hope and pray we can pull it off again.
Tips people, now I am asking for tips! How to get the biggest bang for your buck.
10 comments:
worse then counting the weeks, is counting the paychecks between now..and then..hmmmmm.
Sometimes you gotta' tell it like it is. Reality is character building. When times were tight (which as a single mom, they often were), I leveled with my kids.
The magic, at least in my house when my littles were "believers" has always been in our rituals. Now that they are "grown" we still do all of those things... it means so much to us:
Hunting down the best "cut your own" Christmas tree, then going to Hot Dog Johnnies for lunch with our tree tied to the top of my husband's truck. Even the dog gets to go AND gets a hot dog.
Baking cookies together.
Decorating the tree.
Hanging lights outside.
Playing and singing Christmas carols the day after Thanksgiving - not a day before.
Hot chocolate.
Rain Deer poop (oatmeal and sparkles on the front lawn)... one year we left a jingle bell on the front stoop - and our youngest found it... magic
Last year we sent a jingle bell to our 8 year old nephew - with a note that said "believe"... . OMG it was sooo awesome when he called to tell eveyone in the family what happened.
Tracking Santa on the internet - I'll find the website for you...
Christmas eve mass. Then Prime Rib dinner (late) and we let them drink sparkling juice out of our best champagne glasses - with candles as the only light on the table, set with my best linen...
We always gave one "big" family gift - something they could all use together - Guitar Hero one year - a computer a few years ago... then smaller, more personal gifts...
We also choose one charity that we all agree on and "adopt" it... one day of giving. We also shop together for food and as a family take it to the food bank.. try to make your kids realize that lots of people (kids like them) have it really, really hard...
Gifts are great - but they will be forgotten over the years. Make the memories count.
I have no clue about our 11 yr old. He'll probably just ask for video games. Our 3 yr old will be happy with anything - she asks for everything she sees on TV! LOL. But, our kids know the drill: they're allowed to ask for 3 things from us and 3 from Santa. Other relatives send stuff, so they get plenty.
Christmas is always magical at my house. I have two trees! I have my "traditional" tree downstairs and I have my "glam" tree upstairs. I'll have to snap pictures once the holidays roll around. I wrap a lighted garland up the staircase and hang the Christmas cards we get. Our cheap tradition, we each get a new ornament for the "traditional" tree every year. I re-use just about everything every year. The first year I splurged and bought a Tinker Bell tree topper! So yea . . . um . . . got off track . . . Make cookies! Curl up with hot chocolate with marshmallows in it. My favorite tradition that just makes it Christmas . . . We watch The Polar Express. :)
You can always watch for sales and put things on lay-away; then pay a little each week or couple of weeks. I always went overboard with my kids; my sister-in-law always had a number - 5 gifts per child. I guess when they were little they knew Santa brought 5. Whether they were big gifts or little, it was still 5 gifts. I like some of the other suggestions like bringing food to a food bank. We always picked a name off of a Christmas tree for a needy child and bought presents for him/her.
I agree with the Good Cook and Pat.
Our kids dont want any toys just hay, catnip and hog bone. LOL so Critter and I don't have to worry about getting the latest gadget.
I maily focus on the reason for the season and having my family near.
We only gave our kids 3 gifts...
1) something they needed
2) something they wanted
3) and a surprise
We told them that baby Jesus only got 3 gifts (gold, frankensence and myrrh), so that's all they get too. We found that it helped curb the great American excess and put the focus back where it belongs!!!
Love & Light~
OM girl
Hunting down the best "cut your own" Christmas tree, then going to Hot Dog Johnnies for lunch with our tree tied to the top of my husband's truck. Work From Home
it was sooo awesome when he called to tell eveyone in the family what happened.
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