I think I've said it before, but Christmas gets more and more fun each year! It is fun to see the kids looking forward to and expecting the different traditions that our family has started (or continued). Each year that they get older it gets more fun.
This is the second year that we have gone with the borrowed tradition of a theme for the gifts for the kids. I stole this idea from my SIL who blogged about it HERE . This has transformed how we 'do' Christmas..in a good way. If you read the blog you can see her take on it..but I will explain here too.
We give gifts according to this poem:
Something to Eat
Something to Read
Something to Play With
Something you need
And in addition to this a Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh gift..
Gold - Something Valuable
Frankincense - Something to do with the family
Myrrh - another need
We have always had the tradition of a Christmas Eve gift that for the last 12 years have been pajamas...and that is what the kids expect, although we always tell them that they might be surprised one of these times!
With that...each kid gets 8 gifts under the tree. When you multiply this by 5 kids it can seem like a lot, and really, it is. But..some of these categories do not require a lot of money. For example, "To Eat"....last year this looked like a can of Pringles for one, or a box of Swiss Rolls for another. This category can cost less than $10 in total for all the kids. And let me tell you..they are never disappointed in this category! When do they ever get an entire box of Ring Dings to themselves??!! This is an exciting moment for them!
This year we added one more component that was VERY fun for the kids. They are always asking to buy gifts for each other but at this point in life don't have a whole lot of money of their own. Thanks to the suggestion from my friend Renee, we implemented a "Secret Sibling" gift. Instead of this being an additional present, the secret sibling gift fell into the "something to play with" category...one that we were going to have to fill ourselves anyway. So...they secretly drew names out of a hat, and as far as I know have been very secretive about it! They had a few days to think about something they wanted to get and then each had some time to sit with Daddy on the couch with the computer (this is how we do all of our shopping!) and pick out something for their 'secret sibling'. They have had much fun with this and are all anxiously awaiting the moment when they get to watch each other open the gifts!
To top off the fun of Christmas this year...we had ALL of the gifts purchased, delivered, wrapped and put under the tree by December 4th! Those of you who know us know that we have spent MANY years doing ALL of our shopping on Christmas Eve...and wrapping until all hours of the night just in time for a few hours of sleep before all the opening!
Having this gift giving theme is very helpful. I make a chart and fill in each category and Josh and I plan a few evenings on the Couch with some Christmas music in front of the Christmas tree after the kids go to bed and we shop. We shop without any crowds, crying kids etc, etc. I know that this takes the fun away for some, but NOT for us! We LOVE doing it this way. Besides stocking stuffers, we have done our entire Christmas shopping online.
The kids spend part of each day looking over their gifts under the tree. Each kid has their own wrapping paper and each gift is labeled with what category it is. Luke is pretty sure he's getting Pringles again....but you never know, I might have stuffed a Pringles can full of gum! Jessalyn is hopefully for the Hunger Games series....but really, it could be ANYTHING in that box:)
Nana (my mom) usually goes all out buying the kids a gazillion gifts that she has to shop for and wrap..something that she has a love/hate relationship with! This year, we talked her into just going 'in on' the "Gold" category so that it limits the amount of stuff the kids are getting and so that she can 'invest' towards something bigger and more valuable that the kids really want. This works out perfectly for all of us as she doesn't have to shop for a bunch of individual gifts, or wrap them...and the kids don't end up with tons and tons of toys that they love for a few minutes (maybe days) and then dismiss. So even with Nana's contribution, the kids still only open 8 gifts (including Christmas Eve). The gold gifts are wrapped in some shiny gold wrapping paper, but are not put under the tree yet. We figure we will let their imaginations run wild here.
This 'system' is one that I like because the kids know, for the most part, what to expect. This also is good for us as WE know just what to expect and can plan throughout the year and be ready for Christmas financially.
I will end with some random pictures that I've taken this Christmas season...
This is something I made for my facebook cover photo..
Sweet sleepy Tru
Tree decorating...the day after Thanksgiving..
Owen's turn this year to put the (sad looking) Angel on the tree. The kids take turns each year.
My lovely daughter:)
This is the second year that we have gone with the borrowed tradition of a theme for the gifts for the kids. I stole this idea from my SIL who blogged about it HERE . This has transformed how we 'do' Christmas..in a good way. If you read the blog you can see her take on it..but I will explain here too.
We give gifts according to this poem:
Something to Eat
Something to Read
Something to Play With
Something you need
And in addition to this a Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh gift..
Gold - Something Valuable
Frankincense - Something to do with the family
Myrrh - another need
We have always had the tradition of a Christmas Eve gift that for the last 12 years have been pajamas...and that is what the kids expect, although we always tell them that they might be surprised one of these times!
With that...each kid gets 8 gifts under the tree. When you multiply this by 5 kids it can seem like a lot, and really, it is. But..some of these categories do not require a lot of money. For example, "To Eat"....last year this looked like a can of Pringles for one, or a box of Swiss Rolls for another. This category can cost less than $10 in total for all the kids. And let me tell you..they are never disappointed in this category! When do they ever get an entire box of Ring Dings to themselves??!! This is an exciting moment for them!
This year we added one more component that was VERY fun for the kids. They are always asking to buy gifts for each other but at this point in life don't have a whole lot of money of their own. Thanks to the suggestion from my friend Renee, we implemented a "Secret Sibling" gift. Instead of this being an additional present, the secret sibling gift fell into the "something to play with" category...one that we were going to have to fill ourselves anyway. So...they secretly drew names out of a hat, and as far as I know have been very secretive about it! They had a few days to think about something they wanted to get and then each had some time to sit with Daddy on the couch with the computer (this is how we do all of our shopping!) and pick out something for their 'secret sibling'. They have had much fun with this and are all anxiously awaiting the moment when they get to watch each other open the gifts!
To top off the fun of Christmas this year...we had ALL of the gifts purchased, delivered, wrapped and put under the tree by December 4th! Those of you who know us know that we have spent MANY years doing ALL of our shopping on Christmas Eve...and wrapping until all hours of the night just in time for a few hours of sleep before all the opening!
Having this gift giving theme is very helpful. I make a chart and fill in each category and Josh and I plan a few evenings on the Couch with some Christmas music in front of the Christmas tree after the kids go to bed and we shop. We shop without any crowds, crying kids etc, etc. I know that this takes the fun away for some, but NOT for us! We LOVE doing it this way. Besides stocking stuffers, we have done our entire Christmas shopping online.
The kids spend part of each day looking over their gifts under the tree. Each kid has their own wrapping paper and each gift is labeled with what category it is. Luke is pretty sure he's getting Pringles again....but you never know, I might have stuffed a Pringles can full of gum! Jessalyn is hopefully for the Hunger Games series....but really, it could be ANYTHING in that box:)
Nana (my mom) usually goes all out buying the kids a gazillion gifts that she has to shop for and wrap..something that she has a love/hate relationship with! This year, we talked her into just going 'in on' the "Gold" category so that it limits the amount of stuff the kids are getting and so that she can 'invest' towards something bigger and more valuable that the kids really want. This works out perfectly for all of us as she doesn't have to shop for a bunch of individual gifts, or wrap them...and the kids don't end up with tons and tons of toys that they love for a few minutes (maybe days) and then dismiss. So even with Nana's contribution, the kids still only open 8 gifts (including Christmas Eve). The gold gifts are wrapped in some shiny gold wrapping paper, but are not put under the tree yet. We figure we will let their imaginations run wild here.
This 'system' is one that I like because the kids know, for the most part, what to expect. This also is good for us as WE know just what to expect and can plan throughout the year and be ready for Christmas financially.
I will end with some random pictures that I've taken this Christmas season...
This is something I made for my facebook cover photo..
Sweet sleepy Tru
Tree decorating...the day after Thanksgiving..
Owen's turn this year to put the (sad looking) Angel on the tree. The kids take turns each year.
My lovely daughter:)
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1 comments:
I was going to post that I love your system because we do it too and then I realized that I totally skimmed over where you linked to my blog. HAHA Distracted much, Jennifer? :) We still do it and I love how it makes our gift-giving with the kids more meaningful. Your take on the 'secret sibling' gifts is totally great! I'm almost wishing we had more kids so we could do it too. (Key word: almost) :) This year we're tweaking it just a bit though... our stocking poem is now something to eat, something to read, something to wear (or play with), and something you need. We're slowly growing out of the "play with" stage and that's always a hard one to fill for Micah. Your tree looks fabulous---I hope you guys have a wonderful holiday season!
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