Our gift guide.

As most know, this is the first year we've had a Christmas tree.  This is the first year that we've felt our oldest can really start to understand the holiday & enjoy all the decorations & traditions that come with this holiday.  Years ago (probably before we were married) J & I discussed what this holiday would look like for our family.

It included things like:
-only giving the kids 3 gifts each (for J, a bit of parallel with the 3 gifts from the wise men; for me, because I feel 3 is plenty...)
-limiting the amount of gifts from the grandparents
-using an old pair of daddy's fire boots instead of stockings
-doing outings or traveling on the holiday instead of sitting around eating all day, (& that is of course only if J isn't working on the holiday, as we all know he tries to do each year).

Really, I feel like we haven't strayed too far from our hopes for what the holiday looks like for our family.  As we were discussing holiday traditions at MOPS, one of the gals at my table also has the "3 gift rule" & she mentioned the wise man thing but, also had another great idea:  of her 3 gifts for each of her boys - 1 gift is a practical gift, 1 is a special gift, & 1 gift is to share with the other sibling(s).  I loved this idea!  So, we'll be now giving our 3 gifts with those rules in mind.

I also started a new tradition this year, each of my children will give a gift to each other from the World Vision catalog.  Obviously this year Axel is too small to pick out a gift to give Laila so, Laila picked them both.  For Axel she definitely wanted to give him some ducks.  She's convinced he's going to LOVE the ducks.  For herself, she fell in love with the picture of the cow.  She's sold on the cow & is awaiting it's arrival any day now.  She of course doesn't understand or appreciate that the ducks are going to a poor family across the globe to help bring them hundreds of eggs to eat/sell & the cow (or part of a cow that we purchased) will be supplying much needed protein & dairy to children as well as offspring etc... I'd like to keep track of what the kids give each other each year.  I hope they will look back & be grateful for how God has blessed our family & be eager to spread the love each Christmas & all year long.



Now, regarding the fire boots...  It sounded like a fun idea at the time but, I forgot what those boots walk in, & through, & on at every shift.  YUCK!  So this year, my big tall rain boots will have to do.  I'll keep my eyes open for the perfect stockings or we'll just have to come up with another idea...

What are some of your special traditions?