this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

This year's Christmas spending plan isn't just about the gifts.
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It seems in past years, expenses such as Christmas cards and special church clothes for the kids just creep up on me and cause me to go over budget for Christmas. This year, in an effort to combat that, I made sure to leave a generous chunk of money open for miscellaneous Christmas related purchases.

This includes not only extra baking supplies and decorations, but also fun things like Christmas DVDs, books, and a toy nativity set. I decided that I wanted to spend more money on fun Christmas related things that can be brought out and enjoyed year after year and less on gifts for the kids that will probably be put to the side after a month or so.