Just a 48-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). My general philosophy on Christmas is I pretty much don't like it - LOL. Our family and friends don't really want for much AND the materialism of Christmas really annoys me. I would rather give give give all Christmas and not receive a thing - donate toys for kids and work in the soup kitchens. Unfortunately, most people I know do not feel the same, or I would totally donate money in their names as a gift. I probably should regardless of what they think. ; )
Anyway, we generally don't spend much and I have never budgeted for it. Most of our family and friends have stopped exchanging gifts, because we all feel a little similarly I guess. I don't remember the last time dh and I exchanged gifts, we just don't see the point, we buy/need what we want throughout the year. I guess it's a pretty good place to be. Though if we had more money sure we'd splurge on each other.
BUT our downfall is the kids. Every year I say I will spend $20/each and donate $100 each in their name because they don'tneed anything and there are plenty of kids out there who really need things at Christmas. But inevitably we stop by Toys R Us and all the toys suck us in. I See cute thing online, and next thing you know I spend $200 on the kids + the $200 donation.
Anyway, due to our usual finances this overage never really made much difference, but this year it just ain't gonna fly. LOL. I don't have $400 to spend just on the kids. So we'll see...
& dang it when I Say I am just going to spend so much on the kids, I want to stick with it. Putting it in writing will make it an easier goal to stick with I am sure. I hope anyway. In the meantime I am staying away from all toy stores and toy ads. ; )
& as a total case in point I bought the kids picture frames last year that spell out their names. I just saw them sitting in the closet unopened. That is not going to happen this year!!!
I am going to go work on a budget!!!
Christmas
September 17th, 2006 at 03:59 pm
September 17th, 2006 at 04:27 pm 1158510439
So what I am thinking about is buying 2 or 3 of those Christmas gift assortments from The Swiss Colony, and dividing them into gift baskets for the family, and small treat bags for the boys teachers and front office staff. Total budget this year: $120 or less.
Christmas dinner? Big takeout from Domino's.
September 17th, 2006 at 04:35 pm 1158510941
We do Christmas dinner pizza too. ; )