Mark and I have always been on a pretty tight budget for Christmas so we’ve had a “no gift” agreement between the two of us. We’ve never missed something we’ve never experienced. There’s been an occasional “breaking of the tradition” for an unusual gift (if you’ve never heard about the year I got a bowling ball for Christmas, remind me to tell you sometime!) but, honestly, I’m glad that we’ve simplified the holidays in that way.
What about you? Do you and your spouse have any “gift giving” traditions for the two of you?
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I can’t wait to hear from you!
We don't give each other presents at Christmas either. Our anniversary falls two days after Christmas, so we usually get each other something small to celebrate.
Deb
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We usually give in at the last minute even though we set a no gifts policy, too. LOL
homekeeper31 at gmail dot com
We usually end up "giving" something for our home to each other and then one "needed" gift. Last year my "needed" gift was a massage, how wonderful that was!
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We do give each other gifts, but we usually pick them out ourselves :).
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We usually write one another a love letter. One year we also included some undies for the other person. 🙂
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We don't have any set ground rules on this. One year in particular, when we moved to another state, we decided not to buy gifts for each other. We had a very tight budget and even what we gave the kids that year was extremely thrifty. We were away from family for the first time in our marriage during Christmas, living in a rental home. We bought a tiny artificial tree – close to Charlie Browns, and our extended family was going to send their gifts after Christmas for some reason. So, on Christmas morning as our pathetic tree sat upon a bucket, my husband and I had nothing to open from anyone…it was kind of pathetic and funny all in one. Our 3 yr old enjoyed all the spoils for himself, and our daughter was only 7 mos, so she had no clue. We laugh about that today and try to give each other a little something every year, as we do enjoy it 🙂
Deb Strom
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My husband and I have been married almost 7 years (our anniversary is the 28th of this month, in fact). Each Christmas since we've been married, in addition to gifts, we've exchanged Christmas ornaments with each other. It's one of my favorite things to shop for him. I have a few Christmas ornament websites that I look through to find just the right ornament. I especially love the ones I can have personalized for him. When I was expecting our first child, I gave him an ornament with a couple who resembled our skin and hair color and the woman had a lovely baby bump. I always love seeing what ornament he's chosen for me each year. Once we had our children, we continued to exchange ornaments with each other and we began buying one ornament for each of our children every Christmas as well. We let them choose their ornaments. It's fun to see which ornaments they choose and it always represents some interest they had that year (Cookie Monster, Dora, Spiderman). I think the ornaments tell the story of us and I love getting them out each year and adding new ones to them.
Julie Ritter
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My husband and I agreed when we were married that we would give each other pretty nice gifts at Christmas when we were both working, however, it was always our plan for me to stay home when the children arrived, so we felt we would spoil ourselves before the kids, and then cut back once they came. We find it important to exchange gifts with each other, even though we have a very set budget that isn't very big! We used to do stockings for each other too, but decided that we would rather give each other one nice gift than a bunch of little things!
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We don't have "gift giving" traditions at this time. I have never really thought about it as that. I usually like to get my husband something that is practical or something that he would enjoy getting. this year I have chosen to get him a gift of going on vacation with me (alone.) Unfortunately, he found out early due to his computer giving it away. This gift is something the two of us will enjoy and we will be able to rekindle our marriage by spending time with just each other, which is so important to us!
I am praying that this "Christmas present" will lead to another little one running around our house.
God works in ways we would never expect.
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I love the idea of the special ornament, Julie.
We don't have any set traditions. We always shop for each other. I am always excited to see what he gets me because he always gets something unique and special. Our first year we were dating he bought me a book of poems and some pig houseshoes. His Mom asked him if he was sure he should be giving me pigs! He knew I liked pigs though and they were perfect. He gets me a new pair of house shoes each year and now our son helps pick them out.
I like to shop for him too. I try to think of something that he'll enjoy that will be a little extra, something we normally wouldn't buy. This year I've been saving my money from my Avon sales to put toward his gift.
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preciousmoments2004 AT gmail DOT com
we do exchange gifts. What just depends on the financial situation of the year. We both enjoy giving and getting. I do usually get him a couple of practical things that he needs, undershirts, socks, etc. Then something fun, a new cd, movie.
Chris
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No major traditions here. Our birthdays are both in December, too, so we sometime do a combined gift, something for the house, or just a nice dinner out.
parresia03 (at) gmail (dot) com
Our tradition is opening up gifts to each other in the quiet hours after the boys have gone to bed on Christmas Eve. It's so nice and romantic…just the two of us. Then, the next morning, the mayhem begins with the boys and is so much fun! But, I have to say I love that quiet, peaceful time on Christmas Eve with just my hubby!
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