It's The Most Nutty Time of the Year!

Well my friends, it has begun.... the frenzied holiday season. Today I saw workers draping lights on trees outside of a mall, heard Christmas tunes in a bookstore, and am seeing "HOLIDAY SALE" signs popping up left and right.

It is really hard to resist overspending, especially with "deals" everywhere telling you that you need this and that, making you feel guilty for not buying your child the newest toy, and pushing you into decorating your house befitting the cover of Southern Living.

This is the 3rd year that we will be doing our Rules of Christmas and I have even higher hopes of it's success now that Gabby is older. She can recite the rules to us when we are out and she definitely understands that she needs to make her choices wisely. I mentioned in my previous post that we are going to make the girls a fairy door and there are a few other things that we have in mind for them from Santa, but nothing that is going to push us into financial ruin.

I designed this notepad so that I can keep track of the ideas that I get for each person in my family, and so that I can mark off what I get and am not tempted to get yet another shirt or a toy that isn't on the list.

Here are directions on how to turn this into a real notepad which is nice if you have a large family that wishes to try this tradition out. And here is the PDF to print out, you can fit 2 sheets on a page if you landscape it.

In the next couple of weeks I will be sharing with you things I am giving the members of my family, since I don't have to worry about the kids reading the blog and ruining the surprise! Any ideas, hints, and tricks that you know are very welcome!!