4 Things for Christmas

Hi there!

I'm Kim, a recovered Christma-holic! Let me share my story...

All kidding aside, I did this 4 years ago and (as usual) share my story with everyone! (My mother gave me the "gift of gab" I use it well:)

First let me back up a bit, Christmas for me was always plentiful! I don't remember any skimpy Christmases, although I 'm sure there were some, but in my memories the tree was always FULL FULL! I seem to remember the most the years as i got older when my gifts got higher priced and so therefore I had fewer. I remember in 9th grade I got ski's for Christmas and a couple of other things, but the ski's I remember taking pictures of myself holding my ski's!

So fast forward to when I became a Mom myself, I wanted a lot of gifts under the tree and really it gave me a certain satisfaction to see alot of them, BUT bugged me that after the first week the toys were never touched again! They seemed to covet the Lego's and books mainly. Everything else is forgotten and tucked away neatly in a closet (HAHAH this is the part where I laugh, you see, I have boys, nothing is tucked neatly, it's under the beds, corners, everywhere but where it should be, something else they may have inherited from me, I guess I could admit that...plus my Dad reads this and he'll be sure to point it out:)

SO 5 years ago, the first year of my separation, I really wanted Christmas to be perfect, I scoured the Internet for the unattainable toys and really broke my back to get soo much! And of course, most things weren't played with after a couple of weeks!

The next year I vowed to make it different!

I had heard or read, I really can't recall where this brilliant idea was found, I don't give myself that much credit to say I came up with it myself, but there is a slight possibility that I may have concocted it on my own:)

So here it is....

Something you want, Something you need, Something to wear and Something to read!

I sent a "memo" from Santa, saying that there were so many children who actually had nothing and that he was "scaling" down! The boys could make as many suggestions as they wanted, but it would be one thing from each category! They had a great time thinking of things, changing the needs to wants..."I want ice skates...but actually I could "need" them, cause they CAN get me places" And to this day, they still love making up the list.

Now the night before Xmas, I had 8 gifts under the tree, 2 very small packages, and 2 that were unwrapped (sleds) For my own taste, I thought it looked pitiful, I suddenly had a panic attack and Thomas had to talk me down from the ledge of wanting to head to walmart of p&c to get something, anything I could wrap to put under the tree. I thought...what if they think he never came....or even worse...what if they thought they were bad. Plenty of tears were shed that night and the guilt of being a parent overcame me...But Thomas got me through it and we went to sleep.

The next morning...the boys woke up and were amazingly so, JUST as excited any other year....they got exactly what they wanted and coveted each gift. Playing with them and most of all appreciating them!! So I learned....it was me! It was all my preconceived ideas of what Christmas was...the gifts were all my ideas. Christmas is so much more special this way and we never have the question of where to put it! We usually make a scavenger hunt for the gifts and that makes it really exciting!

I hope everyone has a wonderful shopping time, stay warm and most of all safe! Also remember to try and shop local, we have many wonderful stores with great one of a kind meaningful gifts!