Friday, December 7, 2012

How do YOU do Christmas?

 
Christmas morning 2010.  Before you gasp too hard, do know that I'm semi-obsessed with wrapping paper.  I will quite happily wrap a $1.00 coloring book or a $.50 candy bar, because that's how I roll.  (haha, I made a funny there)

 
If you do gifts on Christmas, what's your gameplan?  Do you have a certain amount of money you spend on each child?  Do you make sure they have exactly the same number of gifts?  Do you just kind of fly by the seat of your pants or are you the kind that starts Christmas shopping in July?  I'm more organized this year then I've ever been before, but I know that to some moms, I'd seem like a disaster since I still have a fair amount of shopping/crafting to do.  Because we have kids spread so far apart on the age spectrum, we tend to go for an equal number of gifts rather than an equal budget (it would be rather silly to spend $100 on a 2 year old, just because an 11 year old got an iPod, when all the 2 year old wants is doll clothes and coloring books).  This year, we are at 6 gifts a piece from Mom and Dad and then one more from a sibling (we do a name exchange - each kid picks a sibling's name out of a cup and they get to spend $25 or so dollars on them rather than spending $5 per child and adding more junk to our full house).  We all open our gifts one at a time on Christmas - people opening gifts all at the same time is one of my little pet peeves (I can't savor the reaction on each child's face when they open their gift - plus why NOT spread out the fun for longer?).  Having 7 gifts a piece, plus a gift from Grandpa, plus a Santa gift comes out to 54 gifts under our tree!  That sounds like a lot, but it's amazing how quickly it goes by.  Out of those 54, I have 18 gifts left to get.  Okay, so maybe I'm not doing as well as I thought.  But I know what those gifts are going to be - so that's gotta count for something, right?  Time to get busy this week!  

5 comments:

Leann said...

Hi Melissa - I follow your blog from the LF moms. I went by Elsie (7gifts) on bbc, but I am Leann.

I love your Christmas fun - we started a few years ago (mostly for my sanity) doing the following-
Santa - brings between 2 and 5 gifts, depending on size/amt the child asked for
1 gift each from Mom and Dad - sometimes 2 if they are small
Then the fun boxes
One night after wrapping too many gifts, I just couldn't see wrapping all the clothes I had bought the kids. I clearance shop and don't buy a lot for back to school so they usually get some for Christmas. So, I just put all the clothes into a tote, with some tissue paper between items. On Christmas morning it is so fun to watch the kids go through the 'clothes box' and decide what is for who. Over the years it has changed a bit, we now do a boy and a girl box. The boys are pretty easy, because of size differences, but the girls can be so funny. Sometimes what I picked out for one, another really likes, so I just leave it like that.
With the fun of that box, I also started doing this for the books I buy them - each usually gets 3 books. And the last few years, I have done another for the movie/video games.
We also spread out gift opening through out the day(s)
sometimes the clothes box is done Christmas eve (always we do ornaments then too)
Stockings and Santa gifts in morning before church.
Church then home to brunch.
Gifts to each other and from kids.
Then we save the book & movie boxes for later that day or sometimes the next day if they are content with the other things.
I figure I spend a lot of time shopping/wrapping, I love that it takes more than 24 hrs to open it all.
Sorry this was so long - may you and your family have a very Blessed Christmas!

The Merry Band of Fife said...

Thanks for sharing, Leann!

The kids all open one gift of their choosing on Christmas Eve as I nod to my past, because I grew up opening Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. Then we open all the rest on Christmas morning and after that's done (usually between 10 and 11), we head over to the in-laws for Christmas dinner and fellowship (and some more presents from Nana and Papa).

The Fifes said...

Just beautiful Melissa! Love reading about your family's Christmas traditions. I am also a huge fan of opening gifts one at a time!

Meghan Carver said...

I love wrapping paper too and wrap everything! Definitely one gift at a time because we all want to see each other's reactions. Love your picture!

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