And Down The Stretch They Come… Finalizing Our Christmas Shopping

My wife and I are going to get up early in the morning, take the kids to a friend’s house, and go out shopping for a few final Christmas gifts. I did most of our shopping online. My daughter wants a Nintendo DS Liteso I ordered her one from Amazon. This will be her ‘big gift’. My little boy wants, and I quote, “one car and one big dinosaur”. I hope he wants toy-versions, because that’s what he’s going to get!.

We are expecting our third child in April. The room that will serve as the ‘nursery’ is actually our old dining-room - and it doesn’t have a proper closet - so, we are going to purchase a ‘wardrobe’ for that room. The wardrobe will be our gift to ‘each other’. (I never can think of anything that I want, so I’m happy with whatever she might buy for me. I always splurge a bit and buy my wife lots of presents.)

I usually take the kids to the store, early Christmas Eve, and we buy “Mommy Gifts” - little things from the dollar store - and then we take them home and wrap them. My daughter LOVES to shop for Mommy - and now that my son is a little older, he’s getting into the act as well. The kids have “their money” - and they enjoy spending it on their mom.

Christmas is, without a doubt, my favorite day of the year. We spend the night with my wife’s parents - and we all wake up by 4AM! We open a few presents, eat a little breakfast, open a few more presents, eat a little more breakfast, and so on, until all of the presents are opened. My wife, the kids, and I then bundle up, get in the car, and head over to my parents’, for more presents, more breakfast, and more fun! Basically, we spend about 6 hours eating and opening presents - and I love every minute of it.

One cool thing about being debt free is that I can enjoy giving gifts, and I don’t have to worry about ‘how I’m going to pay for them’. Plus, because I have created a Christmas budget, I don’t have to feel guilty when I spend money. Instead, I can pay cash, spend the money in my budget, and enjoy the day. Plus, when other folks are getting credit card bills in January, I can be funding my 2008 Roth IRA!

I hope that you have a Merry Christmas - and I hope that you are making plans for a debt free 2008!