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Families With Grace

Helping Christian moms create homes filled with grace, love & faith

Month: October 2021

How to simplify Christmas gift giving

Posted on by Stacey A. Shannon

5 Ways to make holiday gift giving easier!

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The Christmas season is both awesome and stressful. Figuring out how to pull off all the extras on top of your regular tasks isn’t always easy. And don’t even get me started on Christmas gift giving. I don’t think I’m the only one who has people on my list impossible to buy for, right?

So I did my best to come up with good ideas and tips to simplify Christmas gift giving. The Christmas season and gift giving should be more fun than stress. These ideas can help you have less stress this year!

Organize your Christmas gift ideas

I’m big on lists. I’m the kind of person who makes lists for everything — and you know that’s going to include Christmas gift ideas! Until this year I’ve made my Christmas gift list in a spreadsheet. It works, but it gets a bit unwieldy as I do my best to add in product links. And then when it’s time to send those gift ideas to others (like grandparents), it gets a bit wearisome.

So I was super excited to discover the Amazon Holiday Gift List. I have used Amazon lists before, but I hadn’t tried the Holiday Gift List. The difference is that you can have one main list with various tags. Basically you can organize links to all your gift ideas for various people in one place. I know! It’s my newest, most favorite organization tool for Christmas gifts this year!

You can set the list to be private (meaning only you can see it), shareable (meaning only people who you give the link to can see it) or public (everybody can see it). Right now, I have mine set to private, but I’m going to switch it to shareable and pass it along to my parents and in-laws.

Once you’ve created your Amazon Holiday Gift List, you add items to it by clicking on the “Add to registry” button instead of the “Add to list” button in order to find your list. You can tag items from there as to which person they go with. For example, I created a list called “Christmas 2021” and created tags for each member of my family.

I have a second list called “Other Christmas Gifts 2021” with tags for extended family members, teachers and anyone else we are going to buy gifts for. Then I can organize my gift ideas for those folks as well. Then I’m free to share my family list with my parents and in-laws while also keeping my gift ideas for them a secret from them.

I’m quite loving the Amazon Holiday Gift List this year. My kids even used it to add items for themselves. My 12-year-old helped my 8-year-old add his items. Nice!

Other nice features with the gift list is that it keeps track of who buys what to make it easy for sending thank you cards and it also has a variety of different gift ideas on the main page to help you out as you come up with ideas. You can even customize the photo at the top of your Amazon Holiday Gift List!

Have some general Christmas gift ideas in mind

One of the most difficult parts of Christmas gift giving is coming up with ideas for everyone on your list. Christmas gift lists abound, though, to help make life easier. Check out the following links to ideas!

Christmas gift ideas for people who are hard to shop for: If you’re buying for people who basically have everything, you need these 40 gifts under $30 that everyone will love!

15 Christmas gifts under $20 for almost everyone on your list: If you don’t have much time, start with this short list that’s packed full of great ideas for everyone from your mother-in-law to your kids’ teachers.

Gifts for everyone: If you need to just explore and find all sorts of ideas, Amazon has you covered with lots of categories from fashion to toys to stocking stuffers. You can also easily look for gifts in price ranges to fit your budget.

Quirky, fun holiday gift ideas under $25 for everyone on your list: For gifts that are a bit out-of-the-ordinary and fun, this list has you covered with more than 44 Christmas gift ideas

Handmade holiday gift guide: This gift guide from Amazon is packed with ideas of personalized and unique gifts from some of the small businesses who sell on Amazon.

30+ White elephant gift ideas under $20: Find more than 30 ideas under $20 for white elephant gifts that are fun and not embarrassing.

Find a couple of designated hiding spots for Christmas gifts

I don’t like waiting until the last minute to get or order Christmas gifts. So I have to come up with a solution for hiding the gifts once they start arriving. I try to keep them in one or two spots so I don’t forget anything, which has totally happened!

The best hiding spots are ones that your family members seldom access. Use a plastic tote in your garage, the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet nobody else uses, a box in the back of a closet. But keep in mind where you put things. With your Amazon Holiday Gift List, you’ll be able to keep track of what you’ve purchased and know what you should have. You just need to make sure you know where they are!

Wrap as you go

Another great strategy for simplifying Christmas gift buying this season is to wrap your gifts as you go. First, it will make hiding them easier. Even if prying eyes find them, they won’t know what’s under the wrapping paper! Second, it will save you from having a wrapping marathon session.

Honestly, I don’t wrap each individual gift as I go, since in the early days of shopping they trickle in slowly. Instead, once I have a few then I do a small wrapping session to help cut down on my stress just before Christmas.

Ship Christmas gifts directly to out-of-town friends and family

Figuring out how to get Christmas gifts to friends and family who live away from us is easier than ever. While postal rates have increased, many stores include gift wrapping options and will ship straight to your out-of-town recipient. I’ve utilized this feature from Amazon for my niece and nephews who live states away. It’s usually $5 or so for gift wrapping and looks nice.

Another option for shipping directly to your recipient is doing a subscription box. With a monthly box arriving to their doorstep for however long you choose, you don’t have to do anything more than pick the subscription and pay. Pretty easy peasy! Amazon has a wide variety of subscription boxes in various price ranges for both adults and kids.

Digital subscriptions are another easy option for gift giving. A few years ago, my husband gifted me with Kindle Unlimited. There are so many books available to read for free. I’ve maintained my subscription because I like it so very much and find it even easier than downloading books from my library. I highly recommend it for readers! And “A Family Christmas: 25 Days of 5-Minute Family Christmas Devotions” is included in Kindle Unlimited.

Finally, if all else fails, go with gift cards so they can purchase what they want. I’m a big fan of Amazon gift cards just because you really can get anything on Amazon. You can even send the gift cards digitally, which is great if it’s a last-minute situation!

A message for my oldest before she becomes a big sister

Posted on by Stacey A. Shannon

What I want my daughter to know before her brother is born

I originally wrote these words two weeks before my son was born in January of 2013. I was preparing to become a mother of two. And I also tried to prepare my daughter for becoming a big sister. While we have grown and changed throughout these years, the message here remains the same.

As I get closer and closer to having our baby boy, I’ve been thinking about the things I want my daughter to know. I know that becoming a big sister will forever change her life. Because I am the youngest of two, I will never completely know her station in a family. I’ve never been an oldest sibling. I know my own older brother wasn’t too excited to have to share our parents with me when I was born, but I like to think he came around eventually.

Right now, my daughter is excited. She talks about the things she will teach Baby Brother. When my parents and in-laws were here painting his nursery just over a week ago, she sat at the kitchen table and painted him pictures to hang on his wall. With every stroke of her paintbrush, she talked about how he would love them. And he will one day. We will hang them on the wall in the midst of the superhero art we’ve chosen as the nursery theme.

However, she still doesn’t really know what’s coming. We’ve tried to prepare her as much as possible by explaining that Baby Brother will be small to start with and not able to play with her. We’ve explained that he might cry a lot, because that’s the only way babies can communicate (or “investigate” as she sometimes mistakenly says). I’ve even mentioned to her that he might wake mommy up a lot a night, so I might be more tired after he’s born. I’ve talked with her a little bit about nursing so she’s not utterly shocked or anything. 

But, I can’t explain to her what having a newborn in the house is like. I can’t really explain to her what it’s like to go from an only child to a sibling because I’ve never done it. I was born a sibling. So was my husband.

I am incredibly excited to have this new member of our family. At the same time, I know it will be an adjustment for my daughter (and us!). I’ve been praying about it. And I’ve been thinking about what I want her to know before he’s born and she becomes a big sister. There are things I tell her, but there are other things that she just isn’t old enough to understand, yet. Some things I want her to know I will just have to show her and go without saying because she’s still only a 3-year-old.

I will always love you.

I want my daughter to know that no matter what, I will always love her. My heart is big enough to love two children. I have loved my husband for so long and love him so completely. I can’t imagine life without him. When our daughter was born, my heart grew to include a deep love for her that is complete and so strong it takes my breath away. Already my heart has grown to love this child along with my daughter. A mother’s heart has plenty of room for love.  I never want my daughter to question that. I want her to always feel my love.

Having a sibling is cool.

I want my daughter to know that having a sibling is cool. My brother and I aren’t super close, but he’s my brother. He’s the one other person in this world who grew up with the exact same parents I did. We’ve been through challenges together throughout the years. We’ve learned how to work together to help our family through crisis as adults like we did back in 2005 when my dad had an accident and his life dangled precariously in the balance for weeks. 

I want my daughter to know that her brother will be her brother for life. And she’ll always be his big sister. My prayer is that the two of them are close and have a good friendship and relationship. I want her to know that even when she has times he drives her crazy (and vice versa!) that at the end of the day, they will still have each other and the love of a sibling.

Being a big sister is an important job.

I want my daughter to know that she will be a role model. One thing I know as a younger sibling is how much we look up to our older siblings. I looked up to my brother and my cousin who was like another older brother for years. Her Baby Brother will do the same. It’s a cool responsibility to be a role model. She’ll be a good big sister with her compassionate heart and sensitive spirit. I’m excited to see how she rocks her big sister journey.

You don’t have to be a little mama.

I want my daughter to know that she’s a good helper, but she doesn’t have to be a little mother. She only has to be a big sister. My daughter loves to help around the house. With any task we’re working on, she’ll ask if we need help and try to help however she can. There have been many times I’ve carried the laundry basket lower through the house so she can hang on to one end and help me with it. She loves helping unload the dishwasher. Yesterday she wanted to help wipe down Baby Brother’s crib, so I armed her with a baby wipe and she had a great time. She just loves to help.

I will love for her to help and feel included with the baby, but I never want her to think she is responsible for him. First and foremost she is a little girl and I want her to enjoy being a little girl for as long as she can.

Life can be good, even when it’s difficult.

I want my daughter to know that even when life doesn’t seem fair, it’s still good. I know there will be struggles coming our way with who’s getting the most attention. Newborns are needy. They aren’t one bit understanding. Honestly, 3-year-olds aren’t super different in that department. There will be times she won’t think it’s fair for me to be doing something with the baby when she’d rather I was playing with her. I know that will happen. It can’t be avoided. 

But I want her to know life is still good. I want her to come to understand that if she gives me a few minutes to take care of Baby Brother then I will have more time to peacefully play with her later. And when he gets older and does things like knock over the blocks she’s building or tears a page in her favorite book, I pray she’ll have compassion and understanding with him.

You will always be my baby girl.

I want my daughter to know that she will always be my baby girl. I tell her this often. She agrees that even though she’s a big girl now, she’s OK with still being my baby girl. But, she doesn’t really know what I mean. What I mean is that no matter how big she gets, I’ll never forget the first time I saw her after she was born. I’ll never forget looking deep into her eyes during middle-of-the-night feedings and wondering about the person she’d become. I’ll never forget snuggling close with her at all stages of her life thus far. Of course, I’ll never forget her first steps or her first words. I’ll never forget her own language she created for a while before she could really talk. 

There are so many things that I’ll always remember every time I look at her. She is my precious girl. And just because I will have another baby with whom to experience so many of these things doesn’t make the times I shared with her any less precious.

Change is coming around these parts. It will be good, and it will bring challenges. My daughter continues to have lessons to learn as she navigates life and my son will be coming right behind her. Their dad and I have a big responsibility in raising them together. We’ve all got messages we need to hear from one another loud and clear, even when they come through actions. After all, that’s what being a family is all about.

Looking for more content about baby and toddler days? Don’t miss these posts!