Contrary to what the weather thinks, it's the Holiday Season. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and soon Christmas upon us. This year has me a bit stressed for a couple of reasons. One, this is the first year we are on a tight budget for the holidays and two, I have family coming for the holidays. My family doesn't stress me out in a bad way, just the "really want them to have fun and enjoy themselves" way. The budget on the other hand....ugh. With my son's birthday being a few days before Christmas and our anniversary being a few days after it has always been an expensive time of year. Truly though we have never worried to much about it because between our two jobs we were able to spend what we wanted. This year, with one less job, that isn't so much the case. I've been looking into more personal, less materialistic gifts trying to find something people might really want or need instead of "this will work, don't care how much it is". I've been stressed however about what people, mostly my kiddos, will think when their gifts obviously aren't as expensive as they have been in the past. And yes, they will notice - they are 12 and almost 17. But then I was reminded of something....
Growing up we didn't have much money. And by not much I mean none. One Christmas was particularly lean and my Mother kept saying "don't expect much". The age I was at the time, I didn't really register what that meant and thought I'd only get two or three gifts instead of 5. Christmas morning came and we had stockings like always and my sister and I each had a couple of gifts. One of my gifts was a very large purple velvet frog. My Mother had made it out of some scraps of fabric she had found and an old pillow. I LOVED IT! Not just a little bit, I loved it A LOT! That frog lived on my bed until, when I was 15, our new puppy decided to use it as a chew toy and it had to be thrown away as it was completely ruined. I was heartbroken. I've always remembered that Christmas very clearly because it was such a great present.
As that story was brought back to my mind I let some of the stress go about my kids and Christmas. My extended family won't care if I spend a little less on them this year and honestly, I don't think my kids will either. They are old enough to understand economics and if I try really hard to find things they love...that is all that will matter. Now I'm off to find my kids their very own "Purple Velvet Frog".
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