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!
Having money already set aside for Christmas has been a huge relief. And this year we have implemented our first Christmas budget to insure no over spending. Debt freedom really is a great way to live.
I always get a sizable Christmas bonus from my employer (around $2000). And I depend on that to fund my Christmas spending, although I only spend a portion of it on presents. How do you feel about depending on a fairly reliable bonus to fund Christmas instead of saving throughout the year?