How Many Christmas Presents?

Over the last couple of years, while Shawn and I have been trying to simplify our Christmas list, we have steadily cut down on who we buy for, what we spend, and how many things we buy for someone.  I love giving gifts, so it’s hard for me, but in reality we just can’t afford to buy for everyone we’d like to.

We agreed that each kid would get one gift from us, one from siblings ( the girls go together to pick out one thing for their brother etc) and one from Santa.  The thing is, it’s hard to stick to this!  Yes, it’s all they need, since they have a million things already.  Besides they have a lot of grandparents and great-grandparents as well as aunts and uncles who they also get gifts from.

It’s me who has a hard time sticking to this.  The problem is, with just one planned item, I feel like it has to be THE perfect present, the one thing they have really been wanting all year.  I put a lot of pressure on myself to get the best gift, since I am only buying the one thing.  Also, there is inevitably some cute thing I see, after I have already purchased what was going to be the only present, some great price or some toy that wasn’t released until December.

In reality, we end up buying the kids one “big” present, that thing they have been wanting, and a couple of other smaller items.  Santa does the same.  While we insist they are only allowed to ask Santa for one thing in their letter, they get a couple little things from him too, as well as their stockings.  Things like the board game that goes to all of them are also wrapped and under the tree.

At our house, Christmas is about Christ, and not the commercial stuff, and cutting down on the number of things we give is part of keeping our focus in the right place.  But it is also our pleasure to give our kids good things that they would like.  I love seeing their faces when they realize they got the thing they were hoping for.

How many presents do you plan on?