Christmas madness....not this year!!

A couple of days ago,  Stefanie over at Ni Hao Y'all wrote about how she was going to try  'avert Christmas craziness' this holiday season. She gave some good ideas of her own (she always has good ideas!) ,then asked for our advice for some help or suggestions for gift-buying.

 First of all....make sure you read her post and the comments! Then click on the links to access the blogs that offer cool ideas, gifts, and traditions for Christmas.  I tell ya there really is a lot of wonderful information out there in this bloggy world!!!

Secondly, I learned of a most inspiring way to keep Jesus securely ensconced in Christmas even as we are shopping for gifts for our kids and even while we are giving these gifts to our kids!!!!  Sounds amazing...doesn't it??? Maybe some of you are already doing something like this...but, for me it truly is a novel idea.   Jill from the Glen who commented on Stefanie's post....(actually hers is the first comment there)...wrote how their family ties in their gift giving with the gifts that the wise men presented to Jesus. She calls it 'a simple formula'. (I like that!!) Each of her children receives three gifts. They receive a Gold gift...which would be  the most wanted or desired gift....a Frankincense gift...one that centers on family time...like maybe a game, puzzle, movie tickets....and the Myrrh gift is represented as a practical/usable gift....sweatshirts, socks, underwear, pajamas...And to keep the spirit of Santa alive on Christmas morning her kids find that their Christmas stockings have been filled with various little gifts and goodies. Don't ya just love this idea????

This year we are definitely on a Christmas budget.  As we are anticipating our trip to China to bring home Avery, hopefully by Christmas, we are saving furiously for this last part of our journey to her. And plus we now have five wonderful children to buy Christmas presents for!  So I really needed to get a handle on this Christmas shopping and refocus on what Christmas is really about.

Now this is the good part...
As I was sharing this 'three gifts' idea with my husband and our oldest son (who was home this weekend from college), they both liked it, really liked it and thought we should try it this year.  In fact, my husband even volunteered to help me shop for these kinds of gifts for our kids! This is huge....he hasn't helped with Christmas shopping for years.....(This alone is a gift!) Thank you Jill from the Glen!!!!!   And then to make this idea even more appealing, my husband and son thought we should wrap each type of present with distinct wrapping paper...I mean these guys were getting into this....big time.  They came up with the following: The 'Gold gift' should be wrapped in ....are you ready for this....gold paper (lol). The 'Frankincense gift' should be wrapped in green paper...not sure why, but hey, here were two guys discussing Christmas shopping and Christmas gift wrapping...who was I to question them???? And finally, the 'Myrrh gift'...since it is a practical gift, they decided it should be wrapped in practical brown paper...maybe even a brown paper bag. Yeah...probably won't let that happen...but, you get the idea...they were having fun!

Some of my ideas for gifts for my girls are:

Wild Olive T-Shirts
You really need to go check out this web site....it's amazing! (Click here.)

'Orphaned No More' bracelets
Please check out this web site also. These bracelets are gorgeous, unique, and creative.  This mom is making these bracelets to help bring home her daughter from China. (Click here.)

Ideas for my sons:

Any thing that has to do with sports or food!!!! (they are very easy to shop for)




And finally some toy ideas for the little ones:


                                                        Writing Fun

                                                          Hide N' Seek Chocolates

                                                   Super Building Set

                                            Stack & Count Layer Cake

                                         Magnetic Learning Calendar

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                      

I can't wait to begin  shopping with my husband!!!!!...I feel like my perspective is in a better place....I am anticipating this shopping season with more Joy and more Jesus in my heart!!!

Merry Christmas!  ( a little early)