~Christmas Countdown~

Boy is the year flying by fast! Have you all noticed that the years seems to go by faster once you become an adult? Or, maybe it's just me. Well, anyway, look at the time, as of today Christmas is exactly two weeks away. C'mon say it with me "WHOA!"

Hey time flys by so fast that last year Santa Claus and the Elves were actually late putting together all the toys. They were working so fast that they were putting gifts together wrong. Some of the dolls had one eye, so they named them Pirate-Dolls. Then they were late trying to deliver all of the toys; they were flying so fast the sleigh started smoking, and Rudolph started sweating so bad until his lit-up red nose went out. Ha, just joking!

On a more serious note, while some people are excited that they can go Christmas shopping because the season is here already, others may feel a bit discouraged because of the financial investments that this time of year brings. For some of us, the question may be "In this kind of economy, how do you manage to go out and buy gifts to give AND still keep your lights on?"

Well, I think I may have an answer to that question friends! Pick what works best for you and your family.

1) Set a certain limit to how much you can spend this year on gifts.

2) Keep in mind that Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus Christ, and it is not about how many expensive gifts we can give or receive.

3) Call this year's holiday "The One Special Gift Christmas" in which everyone in the house only gives one gift. This is exciting for children and adults alike to be able to focus on what they want to give as their one special gift.

4) Be practical! Sensible! Handy! Useful! What I mean is, buy gifts that could be used at anytime, any day of the week, even everyday. In example, some Christmas' ago, one of my sisters bought me a Toucan Sam Fruitloop cereal-bowl-cup; in fact, it came with a little box of cereal and a designer spoon sitting in the bowl-cup. I thought it was the coolest little gift, because one thing, I love cereal; and another thing is that it was wide enough to be a bowl and eat out of it, but it was also tall and narrow enough to be a cup and drink the left over milk out of it. It was indeed groovy, and I LOVED THAT GIFT. I used it basically EVERYDAY. Unfortunately, it ended up being mistakenly broken. Remember that practical gifts are awesome, and they are usually CHEAPER, like $1, $3, $5, you get my point. Dollar Tree is a great store for buying practical gifts.

5) Pick out about four or five different things that cost like one buck, and assemble them together in one pretty gift bag to give as one whole gift. It is such a creative idea. You can buy anything that you think the person will like, and give your gift a theme, like "Relax Pack". So for a relax-pack, you will place in a basket or gift bag something like a bottle of lotion, bubble bath, face mask, and a bag of their favorite chips. This gift is perfect for women. For guys, you can do the same thing, just purchase a different set of items.

6) Put your creativity to the test, and make the gifts for your loved ones. Gifts that were personally designed and created usually has more value and sentiment.

Anyway, HAPPY SHOPPING, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!