"
It's July and I'm already thinking (and planning) for Christmas this year. It's going to be a special year: Bug's first Christmas. To say that I'm excited is an understatement. I already love the season, and now that I get to share it with my daughter, I don't know if I'll be able to contain myself! I know she won't remember this Christmas, but I will and I look forward to telling her all about it in years to come.
With a new baby, the hubs and I are starting new traditions, and continuing old ones. One tradition that we have is shopping for the Christmas tree. We go the Sunday after Thanksgiving, this way, we can enjoy the tree for as long as possible. This year we're adding to this tradition. To help make it more special, we'll be buying an ornament for Bug (we've actually already bought her ornament this year when we were in Disney) and letting her "open" it that same day. This way she has a special new ornament to put on the tree.
Another tradition will be with her presents. I don't feel like Christmas should ever be about presents. It's about the birth of Christ and the time we get to spend with family. In order to hopefully minimize future drama (I know I'm kind of dreaming, but maybe if we start early, it'll smooth things over) but we're going with four gifts: wear, need, want, read. (I believe I read about this somewhere on Pinterest, if you know where, please help me so I can give credit where credit is do!)
Wear: This one is self explanatory. Bug will get a new outfit every Christmas. In my mind, an outfit starts at the head with a bow or headband and ends at the feet with new shoes. We'll see if the hubs agrees with me.
Need: This year this is an easy-ish one. Sooner than later, Bug needs a new car seat. That being said, this will most likely be her "need" present this year, even though we'll get it before Christmas...she won't know the difference though.
Want: One of the two things Bug gets to ask for. This year we get to choose her "want" and at the moment I'm leaning towards getting her a teepee. She'll be 11 months at Christmas though, so I don't know if this will still be a relevant gift at the time. Any recommendations? I personally think it would be fun for her to have and she can grow with it, which is a bonus. I love gifts that can last.
Read: I'm a huge advocate for reading. For this gift, Bug can request a book (when she gets of age to pick out books). This year we get to pick out a book for her.
I'm hoping to get an early start on shopping so that I'm not bombarded all at once. Plus, I don't think our pocketbooks can handle that much cash flow in one stop.
I do all my Christmas shopping on Black Friday so that I save the most money. I love the four present idea! I'm going to have to copy the idea of a new ornament when you get the Christmas tree. What a special tradition!
ReplyDeleteI thought it would be fun to let her open one gift on "tree day," and that way she gets to enjoy her ornament more!
DeleteI love that idea of keeping the gifts simple. :-) I love planning early for the holidays. I've already bought most of the gifts for our extended family. It will really help when the time comes so that we can just relax and enjoy the holiday. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to start buying now so that we don't take a huge hit all at once. We also have to budget for her birthday which is just a few weeks after Christmas. But we've already got her that present all picked out :)
DeleteI'm already excited for Christmas too. I just ordered the kids Christmas morning pj's on zulily the other day. I love the the gift idea! We give three gifts because if three gifts were good for Baby Jesus, they are good enough for a child. PLUS you will keep the clutter to a minimum. You'll be amazed how much the toys can start pilling up.
ReplyDeleteI forgot about the pj's! I need to get on that too! Haha
Delete