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

My six year old is learning the joy of giving, while my three-year old is mastering re-gifting.
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One of my favorite ideas gleaned from the internet is that of homemade sibling gifts (from Design Mom). Each year her kids make their brothers and sisters gifts. They make things such as decorated T-shirts, decoupaged sketchbooks, headbands, and jumpropes. Things that are totally practical and useful, but at the same time require some thought and effort and love on the part of the maker.

I started this tradition two Christmases ago when my boys were actually too young to understand it (they were 18 months and 4 at the time), but I had fun with it! I bought some fabric paint and had them decorate shirts for each other.

This year my older son gets it. He knows his younger brother loves books and the character Diego, so he's writing and illustrating a book about Diego for the gift. Every time we work on it, he tells me he can't wait to see the look on his little brother's face when he opens it, that he just knows he's going to love it. I'm so excited that he's learning how rewarding giving can be.

My younger son, on the other hand, wants to wrap up a game that he says he doesn't like anymore to give to his brother. Coincidentally, it's the same game that he gave me for my birthday, and one I gave him for his birthday last year. Clearly he's got the re-gifting concept down. He's still young, he'll grasp the giving concept soon enough.

So many people seem to be striving to enjoy a simple holiday season, but what exactly does that mean?
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Simple seems to be all the rage now. Don't get me wrong, that's not at all a bad thing. It just seems like all over the internet people are striving to live a more simple lifestyle in an effort to increase their happiness. Again, a fabulous thing to do, but what if happiness doesn't necessarily mean simplicity to you?

Nope, I've got that all wrong. If your definition of simple isn't bringing happiness, it's probably time to change your definition. Case in point - for many people a simple Christmas may mean less gift buying and less presents because they already have too much. And there's nothing wrong with that. But, what I've learned this year is that that does not work for me. I love buying my children gifts. So long as they aren't asking for one big thing, I want to maximize my spending power and get as much as my budget will allow. I can always get rid of the old stuff or pack it up for a rainy day. Does that mean I think the people who go for a few gifts are horrible? Heck, no. But for me, and for this year (because it may be different next year), that's just not how I roll.

In year's past, I've often felt pressure to do so many different things around Christmastime. This year, in an effort to make it a "simple" Christmas, I did the things I wanted to and left out the things I didn't. And that, to me, is the perfect simple Christmas.

An ordering snafu may force us to go to Christmas Plan B
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My husband and I decided to make a Christmas gift for our boys - a fort kit with pvc pipe, connectors, and sheets to drape over their structures. This proved to be a bit cheaper than sets that are made for this purpose (and will hopefully be sturdier. We ordered the special 4-way connectors last week and they made it here on Monday. Last night we pulled them out of their packaging only to find out that they are the wrong size. They say that they are the right size, but they aren't. Now the fact that they were so much cheaper at this site versus others is starting to make sense.

Now, we're hoping for a little Christmas miracle - that the new ones I ordered last night come on time! Otherwise, we may be forced to go with Plan B, and frankly, I have no idea what Plan B is.

Did you know you can send a picture in the mail with a postcard stamp? Because you totally can.
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Christmas cards can become a rather large expense especially if you wait until the last minute. This year and last year, in an effort to cut costs a bit, I sent out postcards instead of the traditional card in an envelope. Last year, I printed something out on my computer at home, this year I just had 4x6 prints made up and will be sticking a stamp straight on the backs of those.

There are a couple of different ways to do this. You could just send the picture as is, or manipulate it a bit to make it more card-like. I used a photo-editing software called GIMP (a free-ware version of Photoshop) and popped my picture into a ready-made template that I found here. You could also make a sign with your greeting and have the people in your picture hold it. Voila! Photo of the family and a greeting card in one. Picnik is a free web-based photo editing software that is very user friendly and could help you manipulate your photo as well.

If you decide you still want to include a Christmas letter, put the print in the envelope, you still may a bit printing 4x6 prints versus larger traditional Christmas cards!

Sometimes I have a hard time giving something that the recipient truly wants as opposed to something I just think is cool.
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Shopping for my preschool-aged nieces has proved to be a bit difficult. Not because I have no idea how to shop for girls (I do only have boys, after all), but because I feel the need to create something cutesy and girly while I have the chance! In previous years, that's what I've done, but I feel like the girls are older now and would rather just have a fun new toy or book! Though it's something I totally know, I'm realizing all over again that it's important to give something the recipient will love even if it's not something that's fun to give.

Years ago, my dad gave my mom a gym bag for Christmas. I never once saw my mom use that bag, but my dad used it all the time! I don't know the back-story behind it, whether it was really bought for her and he just ended up liking it more, or if he intended it to be his all along, but I thought it was super funny. It's a story I always think about when I'm having trouble with a gift. Is this item just going to be another gym bag? Will I love giving it more the the recipient will love getting it?

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.

Staying on top of things is a great way to save money, not staying on top of things, is, well what I am right now.
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I am currently frantically trying to finish my Christmas card order, so it can get shipped, so I can mail them out. And I'm trying to put together another photo-themed gift. And I don't want to pay shipping twice, and I want to go to sleep tonight.

Something's gotta give and I fear it will be the not wanting to pay double shipping. I'll finish the card order tonight and get that shipped and then I'll my project later and pay shipping again for that.  I'm somewhat kicking myself for not being more on top of things, but that's kind of the story of my life. What I don't procrastinate, I just don't decide to do until the last minute (kind of like the photo project), or I just don't entirely think things through. In this case I was initially just going to pick it up at the store (thus avoiding shipping all together!), but that meant I couldn't use my gift card.

Or, perhaps I just think that the calendar is playing a cruel trick on me (really, Christmas is less than two weeks away?). Yup, that's got to be it.

I used to think I had a pretty good grip on when it was time to buy new clothes, now I'm not so sure.
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With the change in seasons comes a change in wardrobe. It's time to pull out the pants and sweaters and pack away everything else. It may also be time to buy new things too, and this year I'm struggling with knowing if I really do need new clothes or not.

Thanks to broken zippers and holes larger than I cared to patch up, my pants supply quickly dwindled to two. It was easy to figure out that that was not enough pairs of pants for me and that I needed more. I have a good number of long-sleeved tops, but frankly I'm tired of them. I feel like I've been wearing them for too many years in a row. I have many things that I would get rid of but then I would be left with just a small handful of shirts. If I really cleared out all the clothing items that I don't so much like anymore, I would need new things.  I guess I have a hard time getting rid of something perfectly useful simply because I don't like it anymore.