And...If you like spending money, read anyways, you will enjoy it!
This Christmas is our first Christmas as a married couple (and our first together). As we were contemplating who we needed to buy Christmas gifts for, we were surprised! There are so many people to buy for when you marry someone and they have a pretty good sized family. There are parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles and the whole shebang!I have never been one to go "Black Friday" shopping and with our newlywed budget, I still wasn't planning on going. However, as this dreadful day approached, I knew that we would need to buy things now because now is the time when things are cheap. So... Justin went to work at 4:30 AM for Staples "Black Friday" and I slept. But it seemed that all I could dream about were the family members I needed to buy for and every two minutes in my dream I was running a card through a card reader at a store and the dollars kept adding up. I knew that if I didn't take care of this problem ASAP this dream would just keep reappearing!
Justin came home at about 1:00 PM. And like a good wife should, I let him sleep while I worked on a few homemade Christmas presents for the siblings and nieces and nephews. 4:30 rolls around and its time to wake up my dead husband. With the goal of finishing all of the Christmas shopping on "Black Friday" we went to WAL-MART!
With a limited budget for each family member, we ended up walking up and down the aisles searching for things within our limit. If any of you have bought for teenagers, you know how hard it is to shop for them. A thought came to my mind as we were strolling the aisles. As little children, we are easy to please. A couple baby dolls, or hot wheels cars to the trick. As we get older, the list gets longer and more expensive. Occasionally you get a teenager who has no idea what they want (me) and it gets harder and harder to buy for them. This is where gift cards come in handy!
Cards are great, especially when the cost of postage is so high these days. The hardest thing for me was looking in the cart and mentally adding up how much money we were spending. I don't think I have ever spent that much money on anyone for Christmas my whole life! When we got to the cash register, I knew a chocolate fix was in order and an ice cream binge was to follow. All I could think about was how that money should be put in savings for use on future children, car repairs, and a home down payment (these are our current goals!)
But then I remembered... The joy on children's faces when they open a gift that they love, the warm feeling of accomplishment when a child carts a simple homemade gift around and you know that you made it and they love it.
Getting creative with Christmas presents, or just presents in general, so it was a struggle for me. It is important to remember the true spirit of Christmas is in the giving!
Happy Holidays everyone!
Sincerely,
Mitzi Kay Furnell