3 posts tagged “christmas shopping”

Coker Tree Farm

My husband put up Christmas decorations today and I got a bunch of Christmas shopping done. I managed to find a gift for everyone whom I have a idea list from. Yay! I've got three main gifts and then a few more smaller things to find. I know there are people who are already done at this point, but for me, I'm way ahead of my usual game.

My husband is hoping to get a Christmas tree sometime this week. Everyone is home this coming week for Thanksgiving break.  He found a local tree farm where you can go pick out your own tree and cut it down. We normally just get one already cut from a big box store. So this will be a change for us. I have to admit I am kind of excited about this one.

01 Come On Christmas

Dwight Yoakam

Yeah, I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet.

Today we got out our boxes of Christmas stuff, and did some Christmas shopping. Contrary to most households I know of, my husband is the main driving force behind this. I'm not a holiday person. I'm not bothered or annoyed by Christmas. I think that all the things that other people do to celebrate the holiday are really sweet and charming, but it's just not me. I can't for the life of me get excited about putting up decorations, getting a tree, baking cookies, shopping and all the other whirlwind of stuff that accompanies Christmas.

You know what I got excited about? As we were unpacking some of the boxes I saw that I remembered to pack away Christmas books and Christmas toys with the other Christmas stuff (a great idea I saw over at Parent Hacks last year). That made me think of a few other Christmas themed kid items that missed getting packed away with the Christmas stuff last year. As my husband was getting excited about pulling all the decorations out of the box, I was getting excited thinking about all the things I was going to remember to pack back in the box this year.

Every year I always feel so much pressure to be excited about Christmas. And thankfully over the years I've become more accepting of myself and what's normal for me, but it's still a pain. I always feel like such an oddball, because it seems like I'm the only woman in the word who doesn't feel the urge to go Christmas Crazy.

But I'm trying a different approach this year. I'm thinking if I make a good push to get a lot of the holiday prep over with early enough that maybe I can just get it done and coast til New Years. Instead of avoiding it, this year I'm facing it head on. So, come on Christmas, bring on the craziness!

I finally did some Christmas shopping today. I'm on a super tight budget this year. I have six kids and four adults outside of the immediate family I have to buy for. I'm so excited that I found what I wanted for all the kids but one today, and that gift can be ordered online. I am not a fan of Christmas shopping. It just drains me. I had a friend go with me for moral support and crowd control. We have five kids between us. All boys, except baby Emma, and all age five or younger. We were a crazy group, but having my friend and her two boys with me was great. It definitely made the day of Christmas shopping not so draining. Another thing she was a great help with is finding bargains. She helped me figure out and find all my kid gifts and spend just under $80 for all six!