Saturday, September 6, 2008

Christmas Inventory

I hate being stuck in December finishing last minute Christmas presents just to find a stash of gifts I bought earlier in the year under my bed and in the closet--I'm such a stuffer. So this year I thought I'd take an inventory of all the great sale items I've bought throughout the year. Hopefully with a little planning I'll be able to finish up most of Christmas by Halloween so I can spend the rest of the holidays baking and doing fun crafts with the kids. We never get to do those fun things because I'm too stressed out.

Our favorite Christmas was a couple of years ago in Massachusetts when we bought one thing for each of the kids--something they really wanted. I spend a whopping $70 total on Christmas for the kids. They were given a few presents each from grandparents. It was such a simple, relaxing Christmas because we weren't loaded with stuff. And best of all the kids were happy with what they got. I was glad they weren't whining for more. We had another, more stressful Christmas a few years before that when I wrapped up tons of stuff, even socks and underwear. It took a lot of time to find a home for all of the presents when the unwrapping was over. It was so stressful as apposed to the more simple Christmas with less presents. So I'm going to try my best to keep it simple and get what people really want.

I was planning on listing the gifts here but can't because sometimes the kids read over my shoulder.

All I'll say is Bristle Blocks will be a hit with Grant.

5 comments:

Tami said...

I admire your ambition Jamie--getting Christmas ready early, and the "good mom" stuff. You're amazing!

Diana said...

I always want to get the shopping done early too. I usually let Dallas figure out what Nate will be getting and I do the girls. So far I only have Sami figured out but I haven't done the actual shopping. I hope to get done before Thanksgiving. I've been playing more with Abbey and surprise surprise, she is happier. I've noticed that she will play alone when I need her to, but only if she's been given adequate attention before hand.

Christy said...

I so laughed at you wrapping socks b-cause I have done it myself..Jared just shook his head as I was wrapping, saying, "just put them in their drawer"....it is a good lesson to remember that not everything HAS to be a Christmas present.

Anonymous said...

Bristle blocks! Wow...they still make those? We used to have a ton of those when we were kids. I still am not sure if those are better or worse to step on then legos :) I will have to pick some up for the boys. I love those nostalgia toys.

Swimmingmom said...

Way to be on top of things. Hmm, I'll have to go see what I have hidden away too! Simple....sounds good.