Christmas is so in the air!

I love Christmas time. It is so fantastic. Just want to hug everyone : )

I especially love Christmas shopping. It is my fav thing to do and just being in the "hustle and bustle" and all scarved and mittened up...there is just a certain romance about it that I get a thrill out of every year.

Well if you are a regular guest to my blog, you know that we are not exactly in the best financial situations here lately. SO I have been thinking extra hard and long about gifts this year. SO here is what I am doing to keep the spirit of giving in our situation,

There are so many people we wanted to buy for this year but had to keep it pretty low budget and ended up having to leave a lot of people out. HOWEVER some of the best gifts are pictures. Even if you dont frame them you can make someone very happy with the gift of a picture. Snapfish and my Coke Rewards have made that super easy for us this year! Snapfish gives you 20 free pictures when you sign up and my coke rewards gives you coupon codes for snapfish all the time.

Christmas cards are also something we are spreading around. I made home made one this year with peices of ribbon, scrapbooking pages, glitter and markers....pictures to come later : )

Instead of picking an "amount" to spend on people, this year we are going by value. If you find something on super duper clearance...OWN IT! and then...give it away : ) Also we are not to proud to give away lightly used things from second hand stores and thrift shops. Recycle people, that can be your gift to God's green earth for Christmas.

And the last thing I have been thinking of....

My eyes have been opened to what Christmas should be. Of course I want my kids to have a nice Christmas, but I dont want to teach them that gifts are the only thing that matters. We will be giving our children things they want as well as things they need. (Maybe underwear or socks or even new toothbrushes) also I think when the kids get older they will have to pick out toys to donate to toy drives. Not only to show the importance of helping other and being giving, but also to show them that materialistic things can be let go of and with a good attitude.

I am sure there will be more traditions we add over the years. But I am pretty excited about this Christmas. More coming soon!