Spreading the Holiday Cheer, the Cheap Way
No, I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth. Although I feel like I have. Due to crazy work schedules and business traveling, I’ve been out of the loop most of the week on all my bloggy friends lives, so now I’m playing catch up. I know I am the center of everyone’s universe and you were all just wondering what happened to me, so I will tell you that I have been out of town all week on business with no laptop and limited availability for cruising the blogs. Seems everyone’s been keeping busy with spreading holiday cheer with auctions, and I have to say from my selfish, spoiled rotten heart that I wish I could be so philanthropic and altruistic. That is a really great cause, but I must choose wisely this year with regard to where my money goes. I have one charity that we try to donate to and that is Mary’s Fund, which helps my awesome, ol’ friend, Jim and his cause help other unfortunate children with disabilities get the care they need. Kudos to my friend, Jim, who has made the lemons dealt to him with the birth of his daughter, Mary, into sweet-tasting lemonade. Thanks to the persistence of him and his wife, their daughter is truly getting what she needs the most: love and care. Please visit their site.
But alas, I am a money-grubbing, cold-hearted bitch this season, so my wallet is remaining closed beyond my measly contribution to Mary’s Fund. Which leads me to today’s guilt confession: I am not buying all the nieces and nephews Christmas gifts this year. Instead, I’m using the “i’m-too-cheap-to-buy-you-something-special–this-year-so-I-made-this-pretty-ornament-for-you-instead” tactic. We have 11 nieces and nephews. And give or take 20 bucks for each of them, even though I’m not good at math, I can calculate that it comes out to 220 bucks. So I’m taking a couple of vacation days the weekend before Christmas for the said crafty project, we well as baking my guilt away. But really, when I think about it, can I really compete with an X-Box 360? All of my in-laws and brothers (with the exception of one) are pretty well off financially, so what’s a $20 gift card from Aunt Kate and Uncle Dave going to do for them? Don’t get me wrong, they are all great kids, but none of them need A THING. Not even my kids need anything, really. I (since Dave quit his job 2 months ago to take care of the kids full-time) don’t make a TON of money, because frankly with the raise I got this year with my new job, I have my eyes on trying to purchase a house for my family. We currently rent a 2 bedroom townhouse, and that just ain’t gonna cut the mustard anymore once Andrew is old enough for a his own “big-boy” bed. So, call me scrooge, but ornaments and chocolate chip cookies will most likely be tied with a big red bow this year with the words, “Merry Christmas, Love Kate, Dave, CJ and Andrew.”
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Update from last post: Andrew is now moving around the floor on his tush. I have never in my life seen a baby move around like this! Actually, kind of ingenius, I think (he is my baby, you know). He is somehow able to get from one side of the room to the other with kind of a weeble-wobble motion, as we can no longer leave him out of our sight. Still no crawling, so I wonder if he will just go right into walking. Thanks to everyone for the encouraging words.
posted by Kate at 12:09 PM
12 Comments:
OMG that's exactly how Aaron used to get around as a baby. He scooted on his butt from about 10 months to 17 months. He never really crawled in the traditional sense. He went from scooting, to pulling up to walking (late at 17 months but the doctors were not concerned).
Don't feel bad for the homemade gifts. I don't blame you. Buying gifts for everyone and their brother is just crazy.
1:02 PM
OMG that's exactly how Aaron used to get around as a baby. He scooted on his butt from about 10 months to 17 months. He never really crawled in the traditional sense. He went from scooting, to pulling up to walking (late at 17 months but the doctors were not concerned).
Don't feel bad for the homemade gifts. I don't blame you. Buying gifts for everyone and their brother is just crazy.
1:04 PM
OMG that's exactly how Aaron used to get around as a baby. He scooted on his butt from about 10 months to 17 months. He never really crawled in the traditional sense. He went from scooting, to pulling up to walking (late at 17 months but the doctors were not concerned).
Don't feel bad for the homemade gifts. I don't blame you. Buying gifts for everyone and their brother is just crazy.
1:08 PM
Hey, charity begins at home right? Christmas is an expensive time of year, and I don't blame you for not buying for 11 neices and nephews. That's a lot to expect I think. We do what we can, and I support certain causes close to my heart when I can (like heart research since my baby died), and it's hard not to feel guilty when there are a million good causes out there to support, but the truth of the matter is, my family comes first.
2:08 PM
I can certainly understand the limited resources this year. I have exactly $20 to spend in the online auction, and that's all I can give.
We've cut out any extra gifts this year. Only our immediate relatives, who we know will be giving us gifts too, will be receiving anything. We've already asked most of our friends to please not get us anything this year, since we can't return the favor. Before the car died, we were going to get a bushel of small stuffed toys from Oriental Trading Company (a dozen for $12 is hard to beat) for all of the small children on my dad's side of the family, but now we've decided not to this year.
4:55 PM
A handmade gift is the best thing to give a child who has everything.
I am gift carding my n&n's this year. It is simple, practical and requires little time and effort on my part (things I am short of anyways right now.) My sil's will probably poo-poo my lack of creativity, as they will handpick the perfect gift for each child. I am in two under two survival mode right now.
8:47 PM
Years from now the kids will have a special handmade ornament and they'll always remember who gave it to them.
And gooooo Andrew! That is great news!
10:10 PM
Not sure where the dedma identification came from...
10:40 PM
My older son got around on his bottom too. He did this weird frog hop type thing. He would stick both of his legs out and then pull them back to hop. His bottom would actually leave the floor. He did a regular crawl too, but the "hop" was his preferred mode of transportation. 11 nieces and nephews are a lot to buy presents for!
1:25 AM
Soccer mom -- that's so weird about the dedma id.
12:20 AM
my sister once went down the entire statue of liberty steps on her tush! in our family we call it tushy power! here is to your son!
ps our family has decided to not give gifts to all the kids b.c. they get too much. Instead we are making a donating to the charity of our choice. Much easier. That being said, I still need to donate.
10:13 PM
I think with that many neices and nephews, you are doing the only sensible thing. It just gets to be too much with a big family.
Glad to hear Andrew is mobile, although I know that means a lot more work for you!
12:25 PM
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