Gift Giving

 I have truly been overwhelmed by all the "must-have" Christmas lists floating around in blog land. I'm not much into giving gifts just to give gifts. I've been invited to an ornament exhange and I have no desire to participate. And, I was the only one who party pooped on the Secret Santa idea at the dance studio where I teach. As rude as this may sound, I just don't need that kind of stuff cluttering my home and life. I know...ornrey! I think it may partly stem back to a roommate gift exhange I participated in when I was in college. The person who had my name gave me a six pack of Coke. I don't drink Soda. She knew that. I could have cared less that she only spent $2.99 on a $15 gift exhange. That wasn't the point. But, the fact that the gift, coming from a good friend mind you, was completely thoughtless. Call me ungrateful but yes, it bothered me. 

So, without further ado I present to you my...

Gifts with thoughtful purpose in mind.

(AKA my must-have Christmas list) 

1. The gift of time. My children will be getting 4 date coupons (mom/dad/family/friends) in their stockings for activities. 

Example:

Coupon 1: Date for roller skating with Dad.

Coupon 2: Date for manicures with Mom.

Coupon 3: Date to the Zoo with family.

Coupon 4: Date to the bounce house with friends

All of these coupons have been pre-purchased (thank you Groupon and Living Social) and have already been set on the calendar. If I don't plan it now we won't get to it. With the coupons they will be getting calendars so they know when the activity will happen. My kids really look forward to this stuff.

2. The gift of creativity.  My kids love to create. I have an extra space in my house filled with lots of useless crap. Over the next two weeks I will be going through it all and creating an art work room/homework space for my kids. I have purchased an art kit for each of them and a butt load of colorful paper. I can't wait to see what they come up with! I'm betting this will be one of their favorite gifts this year.

3. The gift of memories. I'm not a scrapbooker. In fact the majority of our memories are stuck on a memory card in my camera. However, this year I created the cutest little memory photo books for each of my kids using instagram pics. I can't wait to give them to them.

 Source here.

4. The gift of living healthy.  Living a healthy life is in my bones. I swear I'm not a freaky freak about it nor do I push it on my kids but, it's important to me that they understand the importance of the value of health. So, instead of video games (we still don't have any gaming systems in our home) our kids will be getting something that will keep them active and outside. They are all do up for scooter upgrades!

And there you have it. My "must-have" Christmas list.

Thanks for reading everyone. Enjoy your day!