How Many Holiday Gifts Should Kids Get?
I have been struggling about gift giving this year.
George, this guy that is super hot, doesn’t talk about his feelings, and happens to be my husband, is all about extravagant Christmases: a living room full of toys that kids take all day to open.
Last year, without consulting me, he went to a store and got the kids a bunch of what I call trash toys, or plastic artifacts that are cheap, break easily, but are good to fill in the gift gaps.
I was pissed!
Then I remembered that it was the Holidays and that George is a decent husband 90% of the time, so I just said condescendingly: “you will regret it,” because I am smooth like that.
Christmas day arrived and, sure enough, the kids were not able to handle so many gifts. By 3pm they had given up on opening packages and they were ready to move on to better activities- yes, they are lame sometimes.
I gave George the loving look of “I told you so,” and made him hide the rest of the gifts in the garage to return them the next day, because women ARE PSYCHIC! And men should not doubt our predicting abilities.
This year, I waited until November to have the # of gift conversation with my husband, and, this time, it involved death threats. I don’t think is right for children to get a lot of gifts, plus, we need to remember that to whatever we buy, we need to add what grandmas, aunt, and uncles get them, too.
The whole situation was made worst because we are going to Chile for the Holidays this year and my whole family down there is into raw/vegan/non-materialistic/zen master/meditate all day sh*t.
Last November, my sister and Irish twin wrote in the family chat that there is a maximum of 2 gifts per child this year and THAT IS IT! “If anybody has a problem with that, go to hell,” she wrote. As you can see, my Chilean family has a real problem with expressing their emotions, and you know who that message was directed to: us, the Americans.
I took some time to respond because, how could I break the news to George? I had two options: a war with my husband or my Latino family. You can guess who I chose to fight.
Although I take issue with not being able to decide how many gifts I can get my kids, I also started feeling relaxed and happy about not having to buy (and then transport) a bunch of junk. My kids are 3 and 5. They are very cute, but not that sophisticated. 3 small gifts will make them as happy as 15 toys. I also realized that I am not interested in receiving anything this year. I have everything I could hope for. George and I talked about getting each other something really small and that is it.
So, here is my question to you, how many gifts are you getting your kids? Friends? Special other?
How many gifts do you think is right for children to get?
I would love to hear your comments.
The good side of all of this is that we are saving tons of money this year – insert happy millionaire emoji face.
Finally, let’s take a moment to admire the sweet children I have. The photos in this post make me want to hug them until they suffocate.
Hi, Mr. Golden Deer Head. I love you and that copper table you are sitting on. Oh, and that cedar? Just a touch so you can feel more at home (love emoji). Although, if you don’t like metals this would be a hate emoji. 
I bought most of my ornaments and decorations in previous years. The trick for me is to buy Christmas decorations the day after Christmas. This is when you get the best deals, plus, it is a real treat to open the Christmas decorations box a year later and find all the things you bought 12 months before and already forgot about. For example, that deer golden head from Target, which I am in love with now.
I created a fake tree arrangement with noble pine branches and decorated it with silver ornaments from Ikea. It gives the entrance a festive look, I think. That brass vase you might ask? That is a 
That is me in that picture, in case you were wondering; the writer, photographer, and blogger aficionado that likes to spend her time beautifying her home instead of making dinner (or cleaning for that matter).
Remember the 
I have been doing gold ring wreaths because they are gorgeous and easy. This photo is an example, don’t you agree? This coming Monday I will be posting a tutorial on how to make different gold ring wreaths. I would recommend you coming back for that one because it will make your life a million times better. 
Remember those
I dressed up this bookshelf on the hallway with Holiday gear. Again, a pine garland and some eucalyptus on the bottom give it a nice touch. The white candle holders are from IKEA
Living Room – Part 2
The Christmas tree ornaments have taken me years to collect. The brass deers were a 
This tree made with copper string lights in front of the 
My kitchen is colorful so I used these cute trees from Target to decorate and add even more color. Extra ornaments, couple of oil painting, and voila!
Ok, here were are at the end of my Winter Eclectic Home Tour. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you come back again soon and don’t be shy about leaving comments. I LOVE reading them.
1) Make a knot on your starting branch with your floral wire.
2) Make a bunch of 3 cedar branches of smaller size.
3) Attach the bunch to the first branch with floral wire. There is no need to cut the floral wire, just keep on winding it around the branches to create your garland.
4) Repeat until your garland has the desired length. 
5) At the end of the garland, create another bunch of three branches and attach them with floral wire. Add them to the end of the garland in the opposite direction to the rest of the branches. This will give the end of the garland a nice cascade shape.
I placed my garland on the piano. Here is the result (without extra Holiday decorations):
I am very happy with the result. I wish the photo could really show how elegant the living room looks with this addition! So cheap and easy. It is surprising to see how small details like this can take your Holiday decorations to the next level. Thanks for visiting!
