My husband and I have decided not to buy gifts for each other for Christmas. We will give each child three gifts with one being more of a "big gift". We want to get a digital camera for our toddler. He LOVES taking pictures and we figure it'll be about $50 for that. I was given some toys that I know he'll love from a friend (gently used by her children) and we plan to use those at his other two gifts. He's two so he'll never know the difference and we know he'll love them. I'm not sure what we'll get for our newborn. Probably a small toy or something.

We got significantly discounted Restaurant.com gift certificates for our parents in August (I blogged about it). We plan to add a custom made notepad to each of their gifts. I took pictures of my son's "artwork" and made 4.25x5.5" notepads with his art in the bottom corner. I have printed them and cut them down, now I just need to make it into a notepad. (I like to give something that my toddler's helped with, last year we gave birdseed cookies with photos of him helping us make them.)

Anyway, I have one sibling (and her family) to buy for. We have a rotation so we only buy for one family a year. I have found good clothes for her baby (she needs clothes) on 80-90% off at Kohl's. I still need something for her husband another something for her.

I just sent my brother (he's not part of the rotation yet, will be in a couple of years) a shirt from my CafePress store. I got 20% off as a shopowner if I ordered this weekend. I had enough money in commissions made to pay for it and shipping; yippee! That's like a free gift right there. I know he'll like it too; he's mentioned getting one several times.

I ordered some magazines from an online discount magazine website for three long distance friends. $3.55 each, a steal if you ask me. (I also blogged about this.)

I have one bro-in-law and one niece to buy for and should be done getting the gifts.

I do have a few people that I want to give something small to and plan to bake something closer to Christmas. I will plan on packaging it cute and adding a thought/poem/etc and that should work fine.

I feel pretty good about how's it's all come together. We WILL end up traveling about 5 hours to visit with a cousin (and sister who's driving to cousin's house also) just after the new year so need to plan on gas for that. Other than that, we aren't traveling and are not close enough to visit family. I'm not sure what I'll do for a meal, but we'll either keep it incredibly low key or have a potluck with other friends.

Anyway, this is more rambling than anything, but overall, I feel good about where we are and what's been spent this Christmas. Once things are shipped, it will be a relief. I hate that added expense; that's one reason I like magazines so much! No shipping!