Every year I try to make Christmas special for my kids. However, I spend about 90% of my time searching and buying the gifts off their list and 90% of the time they don't remember the gifts they received. They remember events and people and games and time spent together. We finally take our focus off of work and school and schedules and focus on each other. After years of buying and remembering it's not the gifts, I still spend a lot of time on the gifts. Why? Maybe it's because I didn't have a lot of traditions growing up, so I don't know what to do. Maybe it's easier to buy things than to plan time with people. Maybe I still compare the material things my kids have to the things other kids have and I don't want them to go without. Whatever it is, I was doing it again this year when JB took my car in for new tires. I really didn't want to get new tires before Christmas, but I really needed them. So, I budgeted the tires and spent quite a lot of time budgeting for the other Christmas presents I want to get. Luckily, I didn't buy the presents yet because we found we needed a lot of work done on my car, about four times what I thought. At first I panicked realizing some of the presents I wanted to buy would not be possible. After the shock wore off I felt an unexpected peaceful feeling. I was financially forced to give up on my hunt for gifts. I will still be spending some time budgeting for our necessities and the kids will be excited to open presents Christmas morning, but it might turn out to be a better Christmas now that I am focusing on our family and friends instead of the number of gifts under the tree.
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