Hi all!
Welcome to Day 8 of Blogmas! Today I am going to discuss what we’re buying our daughter for Christmas. The short answer is – nothing! In order to give this post some meat, let me tell you the long answer!
Abigail is the first and only grandchild (at this present time) on both sides of our family…so needless to say, she gets spoiled like crazy. Her grandparents and aunts/uncle have no issue buying her things all year round, and at her first Christmas, she accumulated more gifts than anybody! At this age, when she’s just shy of 18 months, Francis and I don’t feel the need to buy her anything when she gets literally everything and more from her family. On her first birthday, we got her a special personalised bracelet, but for Christmas, it seems pointless for us to get her just another toy, clothing, book etc.
However, this is just for now. Once she’s aware of what’s going on, we will of course buy her gifts. A girl I watch on YouTube said that since she was a little girl, her parents have bought her and her siblings a frankincense, myrrh and gold gift. Because we aren’t religious, I would call it a bronze, silver and gold gift. The bronze is small, the silver is medium and the gold is a big gift. I like the idea of doing that as Abi gets older. She will always be guaranteed three gifts from us. I did mention in this post that I didn’t want Abigail to be super focused on gifts. I want her to be more excited about the spirit of Christmas, giving and making memories with her family. As she is going to be our only child, we don’t want to spoil her. It’s all about finding a balance.
We have a Santa advent calendar that I want to start using once Abigail is a bit older. Instead of putting in gifts from Day 1 – Day 25, I want to put in little slips of paper that say things like “today we will bake cookies for somebody else” or “today we will donate to those less fortunate.” That way, she can learn the value of charity and giving, not just taking. I also want to add festive ideas like “tonight we will go see the Christmas lights” or “tonight we will watch the Christmas carols.” It’s really important we teach our child that Christmas is so much more than just getting presents. It’s a wonderful, magical and memorable time of the year.
What do you buy your children for Christmas? Do you have a gift buying system? How do you navigate the tricky waters of not spoiling them but also making sure they are happy on Christmas Day?
Thanks so much for reading! See you tomorrow!
Peace & Love xoxo