A few weeks ago we pulled out the kids Christmas church outfits that they wear throughout the month of December (and we usually pull them out for Valentines day as well). They looked SO cute and coordinated, but of course refused to take a picture for us. Especially Declin. He was NOT having it. So here are the outtakes and hopefully we will get better ones in the future.
I think I am pretty much done Christmas shopping. Just one more person left. :) I have really liked how we did Christmas for the kids this year and I hope they enjoy the special morning.
Last year we tried the"4 present" idea from Santa. It is an idea floating around on Pinterest and Facebook that sounded really nice and simple. It is where Santa brings 1 want gift, 1 need gift, 1 reading gift, and 1 gift to wear (aka clothes). So we tried it out last year. Along with those 4 gifts we got the kids one gift from McKay and I and they also got their siblings each a gift. So a total of 7 gifts per child.
After Christmas morning McKay and I discussed how things went. We both decided that we weren't really in love with the 4 present idea but we disliked it for different reasons. I felt like it was too restrictive and didn't bring the Santa excitement as much as I wanted. Because as great as they are- books, clothes, and a need item weren't as exciting as their one "fun" gift. I wanted the kids to enjoy opening each of their gifts and even though it was SUPER exciting to me, my kids were not excited about a new outfit (what?! new clothes are so fun right?!). So I wanted to add in some more "fun" gifts. If I remember right, McKay didn't love that system since he felt like 7 gifts was too many to give each child (I agreed with him, it felt like a lot). So after some compromising we settled on our current plan that we are trying this year. (please know that if you do the 4 present idea, that is great! Really, I think it is awesome! It just didn't work for our current family situation)
Here is our current breakdown-
1. Fun Gift from Santa
2. Fun gift from Mom and Dad together
3. A book gift.
4. A fun educational gift
This last one isn't spelled out as well as the other three and will probably change forms as the kids get older. But this year it is a preschool learning toy/activity for Adalyn and Jensen and Declin's is an Ergo carrier for him and I. So pretty much I have translated it into a fun need gift/gift that mom wants you to have. Hey, there are perks to being santa. :)
5. A small gift from a sibling
For their sibling gift they draw names for who gives to who. Then we spend one family home evening in December at Toys R Us and they each get to shop for each other. I can't believe that we braved Toys R Us with the kids in December (I was picturing intense meltdowns about wanting to buy the toys), but after a detailed talk in the car before we walked in they actually behaved well and enjoyed buying a gift for each other.
Another part of the kids Christmas is stockings. While we may not have perfecting matching stockings yet (ours are the dollar store special) I do love doing stockings for everyone. Here is the plan-
1. A movie or a music CD if the child is under 2
2. a small toy
The boys are getting matchbox type cars in their stocking and Adalyn is getting a beanie baby cat (cause heaven knows she will never get a real one)
3. a yearly ornament (they are SO cute this year!)
4. toothbrush
5. 2 different types of fun snacks like goldfish or chips that come in the mini snack packs
6. a small fun treat
This is what is going in this year's stocking (including mom and dad's stockings), but next year we are going to take the movie out of the stockings since they are starting to add up when buying one for every member of the family. So we will switch those to a separate whole family gift and just get a few movies and a CD for everyone to share. :)
Now I just have to wrap everything up and put it under the tree!
Also any ideas that your family loves? I love hearing about everyone's traditions.
We have done the 4 gift thing the last couple years and we have liked it. Last year they came from Santa and this year we decided to have them come from us or each other and Santa would do a couple of the fun gifts. As they get older we will have them do a gift to a sibling but for now they get so much and it's getting insane to help the open and then find a place for it all. That's probably why I like the need and wear part of it-not everything is toys hahaha
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