Christmas gifts

As we were approaching this wonderful time of year, Jeff and I had some serious, sit-down, face-to-face conversations about Christmas and how we want it to be celebrated with our child(ren-in the future).  We are all about setting a precedent, being really thoughtful about what we are doing now even before Beck really knows what's going on, because we know that if we start something now, it will be easier for us to continue doing it later.  Not to say we won't change things, but we wanted the big ideas to be in place.  So here comes big idea numero uno.

For Christmas, our child(ren) will receive:

Something they want

Something they need

Something to eat

Something to read

Growing up, I remember this little rhyme coming from my dad.  He is a man of very few words so it stuck with me.  I don't know if he just let it tumble out one day while we were greedily telling everything we wanted from Santa or if it was something he did as a child, but I remembered it and filed it away for later. Well, later is here and we are putting it to practice.  I must admit that I fudged a little on the "something" singular for certain categories and turned it into "some things".  

Want-a Learn & Groove Musical Table

Need-socks (several pairs-moving on up to the 6-12 month size)

Eat-yogurt melts 

Read-major splurge!!!  2 books for bedtime, 1 about a truck that has super cute noises that I hope Beck will mimic, 1 about books ("Is it for emailing?"), 1 about colors, and 1 about adoption.  Let's face it, this Mama needs some new books to read!

We had two big reasons for going with this approach to gifts. (1) It keeps up on a budget and it let's our kids know up front what/how much they can request.  (2) Our hope in doing this is that gifts will not overtake the true reason we celebrate Christmas.  They are a fun part, but not the reason we celebrate this amazing event.