Christmas Prep 2012

Well I am officially done shopping for Christmas this year.  I have a few things that I have to finish "making" but no more stores for me. 

This year was our first "real" year (last year she was just so little that there was not much thought that went into her gifts) as Santa Claus even though I was still able to take Addie with me most of the time (let me tell you it was a nightmare in Toys-r-us with her, she wanted to play with EVERYTHING). 

A few months ago I sat down with McKay and we discussed how we wanted to handle Christmas and the whole Santa situation.  Both of us came from homes where Christmas morning was VERY magical and exciting.  We knew that we wanted it to be exciting for her too, but we didn't want to start out huge and then have to scale back over the years as more children (hopefully) make their appearance.  So we came up with a # of gifts and then McKay threw out his rule... no batteries/ no toys that need batteries.  My thoughts weren't super kind up front.  I was mostly thinking WHAT?!  Why?! But... as we discussed it more I decided that I understood where he was coming from and could go along with his "rule".  I think we did a pretty good job at not over giving, but still giving her things that she will enjoy (atleast I hope she will enjoy them).

But yesterday I read a very insightful blog post written by a much more experienced mom and I thought I would share it here.  It definitely gave me some food for thought for future Christmas's.  As parents at this time in the world we have a VERY important job to train up our children in all things that are good and lovely.  They get so much filth and garbage from the world and I want my home to be a place where they can learn and grow using positive and good tools/toys that I provide.  The mother gave a few examples of things that she likes to give her children as gifts and I am excited to start collecting many of them in my home over the years.  

So... if you would like to read her post click HERE.      

Have a great day!