streamlined christmas

a friend shared this little poem(?) with me about gift giving at the holidays. she and i evidently are cut from the same cloth when it comes to presents at christmas. the gifts need to be spilling into the next room by the 24th for it to count as "christmas". i've done this every year since carlos and i were dating. it was how we grew up and i love the lavishness of it all. but 2 years ago, our gifts for the kiddies were insane and overwhelming. i decided enough was enough. last year we went simple but spent the holiday with grandparents and relatives. it got out of control again.

so when diane shared her poem it was just the structure i needed to mold our new christmas gift giving.

it goes like this:

"something you want,
something you need,
something to wear,
something to read."

wow. it covers all the bases - greed, necessity, fashion, and learning. it streamlines the gifts down to 4 per child. that's only 16 gifts under our tree. plus their gift from santa - and we are good to go. i thought i had better get the kids trained for this now while they are still young. before long they are going to have ridiculous lists of expensive gadgets. it'll be nice to have a "no" plan set in place when they come a pleadin'.