Here it is the beginning of October and Christmas decorations are appearing in stores.\u00a0 I was going to share this later this year, yet with the d\u00e9cor bringing Christmas to mind, we can start to think about what we will give this year.<\/p>\n
When my husband and I were first together, we\u2019d go crazy at Christmas.\u00a0 We had so many gifts under the tree for each other.\u00a0 They were mostly things that other wanted, and hence not really clutter.\u00a0 Then something happened.\u00a0 A Christmas came and when we talked about what we each wanted it turned out that the list was tiny.\u00a0 Suddenly we were satiated and many things started to seem like clutter.\u00a0 At this point, we decided to change things.\u00a0 Now, we only exchange stocking gifts \u2013 though often the items don\u2019t actually fit inside the sock!\u00a0 We also decided to think about larger, household type gifts.\u00a0 We set a budget and each year decide on a larger joint item.\u00a0 One year it was a new couch and chair for the living room; another year it was a DSL camera.<\/p>\n
I encourage all of you to find ways to make the most of this holiday season.\u00a0 If you suddenly find yourself feeling like you\u2019re getting a bunch of stuff that you don\u2019t actually need or want \u2013 consider ways to change it up.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s common in larger families to draw one name and exchange that way, so you don\u2019t need to spend tons of money buying something for everyone.\u00a0 I\u2019ve also known families who just buy gifts for the children.\u00a0 Some families are open to buying gifts from a wish list, while others are against that idea.\u00a0 You need to find what works for you and your family.<\/p>\n
I love the idea of buying \u201cexperiences\u201d for people.\u00a0 One birthday, my husband bought me horseback riding sessions, how fabulous since I don\u2019t get to ride as much as I would like.\u00a0 This can be especially wonderful for grandparents who might go overboard at Christmas.\u00a0 Instead of buying toys galore, you get a family season pass for a museum or the zoo.\u00a0 You get them lessons for something that interests them \u2013 martial arts, music, sports, or whatever that offers them experiences.\u00a0 It\u2019s something they cannot outgrow since they create memories and can be cherished always.<\/p>\n
Like with so much, don\u2019t be afraid to reevaluate how things are working.\u00a0 After a couple of years after my husband and I had been only doing the stockings \u2013 it started feeling stale.\u00a0 We still really liked the idea of limiting our gift giving to the stockings, so we made up a \u201ctreasure hunt\u201d of items.\u00a0 We created a list of categories to try to find \u2013 so there needed to be a bed or bath item, a spiritual item, 2 pieces of media (we do love our books and music!), and several other categories.\u00a0 Suddenly opening our socks didn\u2019t feel stale anymore.\u00a0 For now, it continues to work, though when it doesn\u2019t we\u2019ll talk and figure out what we might need to change.<\/p>\n
We often do this after Christmas, while it\u2019s fresh and make plans for the changes in the following year.\u00a0 Of course, by doing it that way, you need to remember when it comes around the next year!\u00a0 You can change the way you approach your gift giving and receiving at any time.\u00a0 This is a great time to consider what you want to do this year \u2013 with store decorations going up; they begin tempting us to spend our money.\u00a0 What do you want to give this year?\u00a0 It\u2019s never too late (or early) to make plans so you can make the most of the holiday season and appreciate its real purpose \u2013 to appreciate family and be grateful for what you have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Don\u2019t get stuck in a rut \u2013 consider what gifts you give those you love \u2013 whether for Christmas or other holidays. My favorite alternative \u2013 giving experiences, though there\u2019s many options showing your love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[10,18,13,5,25,15],"class_list":["post-680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holidayhelp","tag-behavior","tag-goals","tag-gratitude","tag-household","tag-postaweek2011","tag-resources"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7p82c-aY","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":683,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions\/683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}