I have begun Christmas shopping.  It may seem a bit early, but it is all about the budgeting.  If I buy one gift a week from now until Christmas then power shop whatever is left I should be good.  It is getting easier.  The great nieces and nephews are getting older so I mostly just give them cash or gift certificates.  The little ones are happy with anything they have ever seen on television.  That pretty much takes care of my family.  Boppy’s family comes over and we do a gift bag exchange with a limit so that doesn’t take long.  Girls buy girl’s gifts and guys buy guy’s gifts.  Obviously, I only have one gift to buy so easy peasy.

I buy 90% of all the gifts for our family.  I do this because Boppy loves to buy gifts for people he loves.  He has a hard time reigning himself in though, and the budget would suffer if he were allowed to buy for everyone.  Yes it is a little bit of a hardship to do all of the shopping myself, but it isn’t so bad if I do a little here and a little there.  It also keeps us from taking a hit in December when we have a lot of birthdays in addition to Christmas.  Another thing we do that varies from the norm, is have Christmas after Christmas.  Once the kids started having significant other and living away, we opted to have our Christmas on New Year’s Day.  That way, if they need to hang out with their in-laws for Christmas they don’t have to feel bad.  We also have to travel out of town for Christmas eve so it makes it a little easier for us as well.  That is why if I have to power shop at the very end, I can hit the post Christmas sales and save us even more money.

The Precious is easy to shop for.  A few clothes, a lot of toys…done!!!  I  don’t have any trouble with the girls or Boppy either, but my boys confuse me.  Somethings I can figure out…video games and DVD’s are no brainers, but you hate to give them nothing but those things so I have to ask for lists.  There are always a few games or videos that come out just before or right at Christmas.  So I leave a few spots open for those things and other things that I might see that are just too perfect.

There are certain traditions though that just have to be maintained.  The girls always get new pajamas and Santa always puts new Christmas boxers in the guy’s stockings.  Oh yeah, the stockings.  Santa doesn’t visit here anymore as far as bringing Santa presents go.  He does however fill stockings.  When he first started filling stockings it was just a matter of some candy and a few little gifts.  There were always some things that were gag gifts (especially for the guys) and a few basic essentials that the (college) kids would rather not have to buy for themselves…you know, nice shampoo, soaps, tooth whitening strips and so on.  Well, I found out listening to the girls talk one night that the stockings were their favorite part of Christmas.  No pressure!  So now I try to make sure the stockings are spectacular.  I think perhaps they knew I was listening, and they had decided to have this conversation to insure that the quality of the stockings didn’t diminish, since I have a direct line to Santa.

I was online this morning checking Overstock for possible gifts and my daughter walked in.  She asked what I was doing and I told her I was Christmas shopping.  “Christmas shopping?  Shouldn’t you be birthday shopping for someone?”  (Guess who has a birthday next week)  I know she isn’t too worried.  Her birthday hasn’t been forgotten yet.  I told her that I had a specific thought in mind for my non-vag daughter and I was looking for this item before I forgot what it was I was looking for.  She agreed that what I was looking for was a good idea and that she would love it, but I think she still felt I was a little misdirected. 

Anyway, it’s a work in progress and I am progressing.  I have purchased at least one gift for everyone in the family at this point.  I haven’t begun to work on the extended family yet, but it will happen.  Then by December we will do birthdays and have my husband’s family over for Christmas, go to Harrison for my family, and power shop beginning the 27th.  I am not stupid enough to shop on the 26th.  On the 1st, while everyone else is trying to get past the hangovers, we will be sitting down to some biscuits and chocolate gravy for breakfast, opening stockings and gifts, then having a family dinner together as well.  It’s an all day long affair, but it is one we all enjoy.  These are our traditions, and it is the traditions that make our family.