Christmas shopping. It’s happening. Well, some people already finished, but I’m not nearly that together. This year, when Super Dad asked me what I wanted (we don’t do subtle hints around here), I was at a loss. Completely and totally. I have no clue what I would like. I’m super practical, usually. Last year, I asked for a nice set of pots and pans, after the set we’d received as a wedding gift 10 years prior had seen their better days.

I guess since I already got my black Christmas tree and wreath, I pretty much feel like that’s it for me this year. I’ve been wanting one for YEARS and it finally happened. I’m a happy girl. No really, it’s a black tree and wreath. No, I don’t find it morbid. Yes, I intend to use them for Halloween next year. More bang for my buck! If it wasn’t taking up the spot the girls’ Lego table usually resides, I may have left that sucker up year round. (Here’s hoping our new kitties, Freddie and Angus, don’t kill it this year.)

And as is usually the case, we’re doing the majority of our shopping online this year. I’m a bargain hunting fool, but you won’t catch me out in the crowds on Black Thursday or Friday. Nope. I sit home and shop in my pajamas. I do help myself out by using Ebates.com, which helps me make some money off the things I’m already going to buy anyway. If you haven’t used it, you really should. I’ve been a member since 2008 and it feels like I’m getting paid to shop. At home. In my pajamas. Because social anxiety is fun at Christmas time.

I really appreciate my parents for not going nuts on gifts. My mom mentioned one year after I was married with kids that she liked the “3 gift rule” that they’d stuck to when we were kids. SisterFriend and I couldn’t believe that was the case. So we started recalling the gifts of Christmases past and sure enough, we only got three gifts each year. (This didn’t include the obligatory socks, underwear and batteries for whatever we got.) Just goes to show how much we didn’t focus on it! I hope my own children are learning to look outside of the WHAT and focus on the WHY of Christmas. But I can’t help but love gifting them with things at Christmas. I’ve never been much of a giver, but having little people whose faces light up on Christmas morning will take the Grinch right out of you. (I will admit, I do sneak practical gifts in there too. I just can’t help myself.)

So how do you handle Christmas in your family? Do you go into major debt every December? Are you a Black Friday Warrior? Do you shop online in your pajamas like me? Let me know!