1. Set a limit for gifts. For the kids, they get three things. We typically do a clothing item, something educational and then a toy. For immediate family we set a price limit. It is also fun to give homemade gifts, too. I gave away some homemade vanilla extract and pizza sauce.
2. Where do you shop? I can tell you where I don't shop . . . Wal-Mart. In fact, it becomes a personal goal to not buy anything from Wal-Mart. I tend to avoid this store except for about once every 6 weeks or so. I do most of my shopping local--stores on the square (bookstores, hardware stores, etc) or online. Some of our favorite sites are Discovery Channel, Rainbow Resources and Amazon. And when do I shop? If I get a chance to go to Des Moines, it is usually in October, so I use that trip to get ideas. Otherwise, I try to have most of my shopping done by Thanksgiving. It makes for less stress in December. I do enjoy sewing gifts for Christmas, too.
3. Food preparation. With all the parties and get together you'll have to bring food. I keep this simple by bringing food that we already have on hand. With our own meat in the freezer, it is easy to bring roast to a potluck. With our own corn and applesauce in the freezer, they are easy to thaw and bring. We have oodles of beans on the pantry shelf--again, an easy item to bring to a gathering. Need to bring a dessert? I've got pumpkin puree in the freezer and can make a pie or I've got apple pie filling on the shelf just waiting to be made into a pie, too.
4. Decorating the house. Again, we kept it simple. We put up the tree and the stockings. We have a nativity scene on our entertainment center that I just leave up all year long. We didn't do any outside Christmas lights this year--mostly because our stash was half dead. But, that will be different next year. We got some half price after Christmas so we're good to go for 2012.
5. So many gatherings, so little time. I'm grateful that both sides of our immediate family do not have to get together on Christmas Day. It doesn't matter which day we get together, just so long as we're together for the whole day. For the most part, we haven't had to choose between gatherings. It has just worked out for us to get to each one. With kids, we felt like we couldn't be going from one place to the next and not really giving each place the time that it deserves.
I think that's all I wanted to share for now. These tips won't make for a completely stress-free Christmas (I still ran out of shortening to make frosting and Ephraim's sweatshirt I ordered came WAY TOOO small), but for the most part it was simple and stress-free. We had a great schedule this year and we were actually free on the 24th and 25th. It was nice. We had a great Christmas--lots of time with family, great food and an awesome God.
Thanks for sharing Jenny! It is important to keep things simple...I will still be learning this over the next few years as the children get older.
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