Well hey! Merry Christmas everyone, hope y’all had a lovely couple of days! For us it’s been magical… maybe the best Christmas for as long as I can remember! Why? Like other years we have always been blessed since moving stateside to be surrounded by amazing friends (we have been adopted many times!) but this year after spending a couple of days in San Antonio we had Christmas at home (Luna is just the perfect age! 3.5 years old!) followed by Christmas dinner (very British dinner I might add!) with friends then Boxing Day we went to more friends for steak pie… honestly it’s been bloody great!
This is not why I’m writing this post… I’m out for a walk (feeling not the best about myself, my body, and really trying to get into a better fitness routine before the new year – y’all should know how crazy I get with karma before the new year!!) and was thinking about the advice we have given over the last couple of days regarding Luna’s presents so I thought it might be worthy of a post! To help other parents… IF you also think it’s a good idea!
Okay, so I may have stolen this advice from lunas godparents so I won’t take full credit but let me continue on…!
So, at Christmas and birthdays our kids are pretty spoilt (hopefully!) and we need to be honest! Unsure how you personally parent, but throughout the year we are pretty strict on buying Luna things, it’s pretty rare. Although, I’m happy to buy items for our ever growing craft box as I love doing joint activities with Luna. Anyways, my point is at Christmas, maybe guilt we go a little overboard. It’s also because she is apart from her grandparents and family and they don’t spoil her throughout the year so it’s maybe double guilt haha!
Now I might also add, on a quarterly basis we go through lunas toys and either donate, give away or we will pull things out as she might like it in a couple of months. Just for context!
So after Christmas, or her birthday, we will take back around 70% of her presents and put in storage, then we will give it to her throughout the year. This is to ensure she actually plays and uses the toys, activities or whatever the gift is instead of getting overwhelmed and things getting pushed to the side.
This has worked sooo good, and she doesn’t notice. In fact, I love it more as her toy room isn’t overly cluttered so she plays with her items.
Let me know if you do something similar, or have an opinion on this! There is no handbook on parenting so we are always trying out best!!!
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