Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? I used to be a major last-minute shopper, waiting until just a few weeks before Christmas in order to buy gifts. I was an even more last-minute gift wrapper. That was until three years ago. In 2011, I was pregnant with E and he was due right after the New Year on January 5. I figured I had plenty of time to do any last minute shopping and get the gifts wrapped.
Then, I developed preeclampsia.
I had to be induced three weeks early.
This meant that the gifts were neither bought nor wrapped. In fact, in a panic, while I was in the hospital I gave my mom some of the Kohls Cash that I happened to have in my purse and asked her to go buy some Christmas outfits for E. I also knew that when we got home from the hospital that I had a pile of gifts that would still need wrapped. Let me tell you, wrapping gifts with a newborn is NOT easy!
From then on, I swore that I wouldn’t wait until the last minute to do my Christmas shopping, especially since now in addition to Christmas I have a birthday to think about only a week before Christmas. So, throughout the year if I see a really good deal on something that I know one of the kids would like, I will buy it and save it for Christmas.
Each year we also set a budget for each child. We don’t believe in going into debt in order to buy a whole bunch of gifts that will soon be broken or sit in the toy box. To help my husband and I keep track of what we’ve bought and what we’ve spent, we make Christmas shopping lists. If I have an idea for one of the boys, I can just jot it down on the list along with the price, and once I have bought it check it off the list. This keeps us organized and on budget so that we always know exactly where we stand as far as gifts go.
This year, I decided to go one step further and create an adorable printable Christmas Shopping List not only for my own use, but also for my readers to use! This shopping list is completely free to download and you can print out as many copies as you would like! How easy is that?
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SHOPPING LIST!
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