Here Comes Santa Claus

Y’all! There are only seven days left until Christmas! Can you believe it? This year feels like it has flown by and especially the little bit of time that’s left before Santa comes. With every year, comes new experiences and traditions with the kids! After over doing it (by a long shot) when it was Nolan’s first Christmas, I vowed never to do that again and spare myself the aggravation of putting together a million things that he didn’t even play with. Yes, big mom fail here! Ha.

We buy a certain amount per kid and spend the rest buying Christmas for a family in our area. This is important for us for many reasons. I always look for a way to give back because I know personally what it’s like to be without. I also make this a priority because children these days tend to be entitled, it’s just a way to show them compassion and how other people live. Not everyone lives like we do (we aren’t millionaires, but my kids think we are with their “wanting”) and it’s important to constantly fight the norm with my kids so they can realize how life really is. I’m not saying that I share every little gritty detail about the darkness and sadness in the world but I do share things that apply in situations I find us around. Since we do live in a small poverty town, we see a lot of things first hand so I’m always fielding questions from my children. I try my best to answer them and help them understand how blessed they truly are.

This year for Christmas, Derrek and I decided to get Nolan and Harper ten gifts from us and one big gift from Santa. Scarlet Reese is still a baby and we limited hers to five gifts and that includes her Santa gift. I’m including a few of the gifts that we purchased for them in case you need some last minute inspiration… I decided NOT to follow the popular toy guides and pay outrageous amounts for buying those “must have” gifts. I just went with things that the kids have thought about and asked for.

NOLAN:
Power Wheels Wild Thing
LeapStart With Books
LEGO Ninjago Set
Sing Movie
Crystal Growing Set

HARPER:
Frozen Ride On Car
Doll House
Frozen Musical Dress Costume
Beauty and the Beast Movie
Non Toxic Nail Polish

SCARLET REESE:
Melissa and Doug Farm Puzzle
Baby Stroller
Xylophone

Our Christmas pictures were taken at Booth’s Christmas Tree Farm by Erin Dietrich Photography