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Saturday, November 15, 2008

Starting to feel the Holiday pressure

And it's only November 15th! I blame visiting all the wonderful Mom Dot Blog's and seeing how organized people are -- moms with spread sheets, moms who are almost done shopping, or moms who at least have some sort of shopping plan under way. I, on the other hand, have nothing.

I'm panicking this year, wondering how I'm going to get everything done. I'm alone this year with 4 kids. One of those kids wants a lap top and nothing else -- that takes up a chunk of a paycheck. My other older son (thankfully) is SO sweet and says he doesn't want anything big for Christmas because he doesn't want to abuse the Christmas power, and he'll be happy with some little toys to play with and maybe some comfy sweaters. That still leaves me with 2 other kids to buy for.

And portraits! We need to get Christmas portraits done! I was at Target today and there were tons of happy families getting their holiday portraits done, and I didn't even think about holiday portraits until today. But we have NO family pictures with my youngest son in them, and he's 2!

Several months ago, I had the brief, fleeting thought that I was going to put money from each paycheck away until it got closer to Christmas so I can use that money to shop. But here we are, just mere weeks to Christmas, and I haven't saved a penny. Last year we got sweet Christmas bonuses with our check right around Thanksgiving, so I'm hoping against hope that it's the case this year as well.

I just feel like Christmas is going to be a disaster this year. With having to provide for everyone on just one salary (and no credit cards!), I just don't know how I'm going to get it all done. I'm afraid of the kids waking up on Christmas morning and there being, like, 2 presents each under the tree -- I'm going to have major mom guilt.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

oh my goodness! this broke my heart! don't feel guilty! do you honestly remember every single christmas present you got when you were a kid? heck no! i know there were lean years, but i certainly don't remember them, and your kids won't either. what they'll remember is the way you made them feel loved and special, and the feeling you created during the holidays! and those traditions we've been talking so much about! concentrate on that! the gifts are just gravy.

Bloggymommy said...

I know how you feel! I know it sounds hoosier but last year we didn't have much money so we did most of our christmas shopping at Goodwill! They have stuff that still has tags on them! We started only giving the kids 1 large and 1 medium and a couple stocking stuffers from Santa each year. That way he has extra gifts for other kids whose parents can't afford a whole lot. And we only give them 1 large, 1 medium and 1 small gift from us. We set a budget for each child which is usually about $100 per child, it doesn't buy them much but if you shop smart you can get them plenty.

And don't worry I haven't started shopping yet either! Good luck to ya! If you want to exchange ideas let me know! :)

Anonymous said...

tagged you, don't be mad!

Unknown said...

Oh Michelle... Everything will be fine!!!!

Why not take the boys to a soup kitchen and volunteer in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Show them what the holiday spirit is really about! Maybe it'll put a little post-it note in Chris' head so if he doesn't get that laptop *this* year, he will be thankful when he does get it!

And the babies don't know! Heck, go find some toys in your house they haven't played with in a while and wrap those up for them to open!!! They won't realize it! LOL

AND STAY AWAY FROM THE CREDIT CARDS!!!!!!!!