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Every year we try to get the boys only 3 gifts – as a sort of metaphor for the 3 gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus.
I like this because it keeps our spending under control while also emphasizing the Christmas story – which is the whole reason we are celebrating in the first place!
I shared last year what our boys were getting from the jolly man in red and it was so much fun I thought I would do it again!
Happy Buddy’s Gifts
Basketball Hoop
Happy Buddy goes outside to shoot hoops pretty much EVERY DAY the second we get home from anywhere. He got a plastic Little Tykes hoop last Christmas from his Grammie, but after being outside for the last 365 days it’s not looking too shabby. Every time Happy Buddy makes a shot, the hoop falls down and he has to knock it back up. I am proud of him for persevering with his game even though it’s kind of a process!
Since this gift was a bit on the pricey side, we asked both sets of grandparents to pitch in. I know Happy Buddy is going to freak out with excitement.
On another note, Mr. B. and I have already discussed that putting this hoop together on Christmas Eve is probably going to BREAK US. Ha!
LL Bean Back Pack
Happy Buddy got a cool Star Wars back pack from Target at the beginning of the school year and by week 3 the thing was falling apart.
My friend Sarah from The FUNctional Mom shared that she swears by these back packs. And they are on a really good sale right now!
The Home Depot Leaf Blower
Whenever Mr. B. is out taking care of the lawn, Happy Buddy likes to follow him around and pretend to mow and blow the leaves. He saw this last year and has been asking for it ever since.
Happy Baby’s Gifts
Fart Gun
This strange item has been on the top of Happy Baby’s Christmas wish list since we bought one as a birthday gift for a friend of his back in the summer. I know I am going to regret this decision hahaha.
Name Pillow
A week after Happy Baby was born and we were still in the NICU, my friend, Jamee, sent us personalized, handmade pillows for each of the boys. Happy Baby has loved his since the beginning of his life, and after 3 years – I’m just going to put this out there – it smells real bad.
I’ve washed it and washed it but all of the drool and snot and who knows what else is now embedded in the fibers. We tried to switch Happy Baby to a regular pillow but he let us know that that wasn’t working for him. I reached out to Jamee to see if I could purchase another one from her and she so graciously agreed! I know he is going to love it!
Despicable Me Minions Mini Coin Bank
Even though we weren’t huge fans of the latest minion movie, we still love these goofy little guys. Happy Baby has been obsessed with them for almost 2 years straight. I am impressed with his dedication!
Every time we go to Target and see these Minion piggy banks, Happy Baby wants one so bad. In fact, this happens to be the toy I talked about in THIS POST that made him lose his marbles.
I know he is going to love this gift, but since we got the new floors, I am anticipating it breaking in about 1 minute.
🙂
What is Santa bringing YOUR kids??
– Julie 🙂
I am all on board about simple gifts to emphasize the true meaning of Christmas! We are getting out gal little lip balm balls (she constantly steals and overuses ours so she can have her own now), a wubble (her big request) and dance lessons. 🙂
Martha, that all sounds wonderful. I can’t believe she is getting so big!!! Merry Christmas, sweet lady!!
I loved the 3 gift idea so much we adopted it at our home too 🙂 Helps me focus when I’m buying the gifts and it helps us all focus on Jesus. Thanks for sharing!
Melissa! Thank you for commenting! I loved hearing about this!
So fun! LL Bean backpacks are THE BEST. I got a basic one in 9th grade, and it went with me to college. My 5th grader got a rolling one in Kindergarten, used it for 4 years, and now my middle son is on his second year of using it. The 5th grader needed a bigger backpack by the time he was in 4th grade, so we bought Bean’s deluxe rolling pack for him (our school requires rolling backpacks). Anyway… just had to share my love for LL Bean backpacks. Ha! 🙂
I try to stick to 3 or 4 wrapped gifts (I’ve tried to do the “want, need, wear, read” types of gifts), but we also do a few “together” gifts, and then Santa brings one gift for each child. It is easy to miss the true meaning of Christmas if we are not intentional. I have a couple of favorite traditions, and one is going to the Christmas Eve service at our church. The other (totally secular) is that I use a different wrapping paper for each member of our family (there are 5 of us), and no one knows which wrapping paper is theirs until they find a scrap of it in the bottom of their stocking on Christmas morning. 🙂 I love it because I can wrap all the presents and put them out under the tree way early. With all the wrapping done ahead of time, all we have left to do on Christmas Eve is fill stockings and set out the Santa gifts (which I leave unwrapped). 🙂
That was super long-winded. Sorry! 🙂 I really enjoy your blog. Thanks for writing!
Oh, I just remembered something else! My husband’s favorite Christmas treat is almond bark covered pretzels, so my oldest son and I made some earlier this week. As we were dunking the pretzels in the almond bark, my son said that this treat was appropriate for Christmas because the salty pretzels were like sinners, and bringing them up out of the almond bark was like them getting a new life, and that it was like Jesus making us white as snow. I loved that! 🙂
Jenny! I LOVE all of your little traditions! What amazing ideas!!! Merry Christmas and thank you for visiting this site… You encourage me!