I have heard countless stories of individuals stressing about buying Christmas this year.
I think that we all need to take a closer look at our traditions and the priority that we put on gifts and gift-giving.
How can we make what we can afford look like more?
Here are just a few suggestions:
-photos....everyone LOVES photos
-create a scrapbook of a special day, adventure, the year in review....
-write a letter of thanks and appreciation
-create a "coupon" book that consists of simple things that are free yet special to the individual that they are created for
-let your kiddo paint his room the color of his choice
-ornament
-give something that is full of family history
-board games
-Homemade goodies
-Make a scarf, blanket, shelf....
-Create a "Make Your Own Snowman" kit or a science kit for all of those young scientists
Give the gift of TIME!
How are you making your dollars stretch this year?
What are you making, creating, writing?
I would love to know!
We can all choose to celebrate the greatest gift of all...the birth of the Savior!
We are tightening our belt the most we ever have this Christmas. I was surprised and gratified by how many people in our lives said they really didn't need or want presents (let's be honest, what do we NEED?). We are really only buying for children this year. For others we have made homemade goodies (cookies and soup) and found FREE gifts to give. I used some credit card bonus bucks at Old Navy to buy some items and found great free bargains on some photo websites (our holiday cards and several photo gifts were all free). And for our two-year-old who loves a garage sale find just as much as a toy store gift (I'm not sure he knows stuff normally comes in boxes), I got stuff on ebay and used some gift cards I had sitting around for stocking stuffers. This thriftiness enabled Santa to get him a train table and train set (also quite a bargain). I have to say that being "poor" this Christmas was really quite stress relieving. If we didn't have money for it, we just couldn't buy it. Once you have that mentality you see how much of the stuff you normally buy you just don't need to-- including a large chunk of our gift list.
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