Ava's haul last ChristmasThis year Kyle and I have decided enough is enough. How many presents does a child need? Jaxen for example, he is 9 months old. Do you think he cares how many presents he gets? Does he think the more presents he gets the more we love him? No, I didn't think so. And Ava, she is only 2 years old. 2 YEARS OLD!!! We want to teach our children what Christmas is really about and not about how many presents you get. I have seen people go crazy and spend so much money. In the moment it is exciting and thrilling as you are shopping seeing what you can buy next. I am not going to lie, I have gotten sucked in before. It's fun shopping and buying lots of things for you children. When it's all over and realize how much you have really spent can make you sick to your stomach. This year we planned out exactly how much money we were going to spend on each child and not a penny more. I went out by myself last weekend to buy Kyle and the kid's gifts. Ava wanted a camera, a pink phone and a Max and Ruby video. As we were writing the letter to Santa I asked her what else she wanted(just so I had options). She put her head down and quietly said that she doesn't need anything else. Well, that made it easy for me. I headed to Toys'R'Us and got started. The camera was the most expensive but the other two items were cheap. Jaxen got some toys but I didn't want to go crazy because I already have so many toys at home. I have all the big toys from when Ava was a baby so it was mostly trucks and such. I had money left over so I went to Wal-Mart for stocking stuffers. I was in and out of Toys'R'Us but when I hit Wal-Mart it was a different story. Who knew stocking stuffers cost a lot of money, I just kept putting stuff in the cart. In the end I spent $17.00 more then I had planned. I was proud of myself and you all probably think I am crazy. Really it helps both the kids and us. They learn to not expect lots of "things" and we save money. If only I thought the same way with Kyle. I knew part of what I was going to get him when I left home and bought that right away. As I walked around the mall I kept seeing things that I wanted him to have. I really did have to restrain myself and I was happy in the end with what I bought him. I just hope he feels the same way.
I'm impressed - we're trying the same thing and it's hard. Good for you guys!
ReplyDelete(and good for you for having lots of your shopping done.)
We missed you at pre-school last week.
Are you planning on staying in the class in January? They said our spots are saved, but if we want to switch to talk to them.
Talk to you later!
I have a hard time with stocking stuffers too! Its so easy to spend too much.
ReplyDeleteI definately agree when they are young who really cares. We did the same thing with Jayci and Presley last year, I think we got them a couple things. We were also broke so Kyla also only got a few things. This year we are trying to keep it minimal too. It's so hard when you see things and you know how excited they would be about it!! haha I'm so going to be the mom who spoils my kids...
ReplyDeletei am with ya! i figure they get so much from everyone else why spend the money.
ReplyDelete