slightly radical christmas??

Okay, so remember my post about our radical christmas? Feel free to read it again and rub it in my face. I'm still sticking by my values, don't get me wrong. We aren't spending a ton of money on toys they will barely play with and break. We are just doing a compromise. Yeah, I can blame it on Mr. Handsome here, and say he wasn't really feeling the whole exclusively-handmade Christmas from the beginning. I mean, he liked a few of the ideas, but I think he felt slightly excluded and I'm not absolutely positive, but maybe the fact that I hadn't been able to find time to start even one gift yet and Christmas is next week. Maybe that had something to do with it? My bad. So, this Christmas will still be kind of different. We aren't going overboard, I'm still making a few gifts. Don't judge me too hard. I'm the first one to admit when I've promised too much. Unless you're a credit card company, then I might leave you hanging for a while. Ha!



So, when Mr. Handsome mentioned yesterday that he wanted to go check out the mall for some Christmas shopping, I agreed. I'll admit, I still wasn't totally feeling it but I thought I'd give it a try. I can't turn down a shopping trip. I have been glancing at toy sale circulars the last few weeks and I really hadn't seen even ONE thing I thought I would purchase for them. Sure, there were a million toys they would love, but nothing I thought would be worth the space I would have to surrender or the time I would spend barking at them to clean up their messes. Yes, I can bark. So I hear...Anyway, we are both crowd haters so we ditched the mall and ended up at Toys R Us, the most evil place on Earth. But full of options. We scanned a few aisles and the only thing we could find was a pack of dry-erase markers for their easel. Then it happened. We both found toys WE would love to play with and an awesome sale to seal the deal. Then we picked up a few extras, mostly looked for outdoor toys to keep them out of our hair, and decided on some other practical gifts they could use but we could pass off as Christmas gifts. Smart, I know. This is what we have purchased so far.

There was an awesome Buy 2 get the 3rd for $1 sale on all Animal Planet toys. This is the first time we saw this brand and we loved it! We chose:

Animal Planet Baby Jungle Fortress Set - For all 3 girls

Animal Planet Mother and Baby Safari Playset - For all 3 girls

Animal Planet Polar Set - For all 3 girls

Solar System In My Room - For Luciana

Tangled Dress-Up Dress - For Emme

Fisher-Price Fun 2 Imagine Cash Register - For Roslyn

Little Tikes Girls TotSports T-Ball Set - For Emme

So far, this is our gift list. Mr. Handsome wouldn't let me pick the radio control tarantula or rattlesnake, but I think maybe Santa will remember me when the time is right. I've been good.

I think they will love all the choices, and if they don't, they will love the fact that mom and dad are totally eager to sit down and play with these with them. I had the classic Fisher-Price register and I think it might still be in my dad's garage. That toy is so simple, but so fun. I can already see this as the perfect toy for our little hands-on baby. She will just sit and tinker with this toy and be perfectly entertained.

We are going to hit the stores again today for some of those more practical gifts I mentioned. Luciana wants a robe, the girls can use some slippers, and I think we are going to get another outside toy that they can all play with.

Oh, and to satisfy my radical side, I still have 2 blankets, some jewelry, and maybe two other small crafts to make. I'm gonna try my hardest, but not beat myself up. I'm too pregnant to be stressing over Christmas. Besides, I still want to keep the spirit of family, togetherness, and giving to others as our focus. The girls will be making little crafts for our other family members and that is going to be extra special for them.

Hope everyone takes it easy out there, it's insane!