What we gave for Christmas!

Blogmas Day 27

With Christmas just past, there is no doubt in my mind that youtube and the blogsphere are being filled up with "what i got for Christmas". I'm kind of a bit obsessed with seeing these myself, but I'm much more interested in knowing what people gave their loved ones for the holidays. But these are a lot harder to find so I thought it would be fun to share the gifts we gave for Christmas. For simplicity sake, I'm only sharing what we gifted our family members. We definitely exchanged gifts with friends, neighbors, and colleagues. I even participated in a few secret santas. But we would literally be here all day if I showed you everything…so here is what we gave our family for Christmas! 

Throughout the year, Husband and I place a portion of $$ into a separate account each month. By the time December rolls around, we have a nice little nest egg ready to spend on Christmas. And the majority of that goes towards gifting. We tend to set a strict budget and use holiday sales to our advantage. We don't try to spend an equal amount on everyone, nor do we give everyone the same amount of gifts. We just look for the perfect gift for each individual person.

{Parents}

This year, we gave my father a Michael Kors watch. He has quite the collection of these and had actually been eyeing this one {unknown to us} so this went over really well. We gave my mother two bath bombs and the softest white bath robe {not pictured} to go along with it. 

Also, if you guys remember, we spent a ton of time at our favorite Boston chocolate shop this month. It's always great to buy local whenever we can and we got my mom a box of their gourmet chocolates. 

{In-Laws}

My MIL is always taking care of everyone and we really wanted to treat her to something extra special. We were thrilled to give her this handbag for Christmas! As for my FIL, he is probably the easiest to please. He's just so happy to see us. But we fell in love with this Patagonia pullover and knew it would be perfect for him. 

{Siblings}
As for siblings, I have a few, but we only gift my baby sister…who really isn't a baby anymore. She's in high school and is learning how to drive, which is mind boggling to me because I remember helping to change her diapers. She was the easiest to shop for on our list because she prefers gift cards. But we wanted her to have something to open. She just committed to going on her first trip to Europe and we are so excited for her. Thus, we included this shiny gold passport holder with her gift.  

Husband only has one sibling…a brother. And guys can be the hardest to shop for. We normally give him an expansion pack to this favorite strategy board game that we are all so intense about playing. Seriously who plays board games until 1AM? We do! But alas, there wasn't a new release for the game {we already have them all} so we went with a few clothing items from everyone's favorite J Crew. 

{Nieces & Nephews}
Our nieces and nephews range in age from 2 years old to 15 years old! For the kiddos, we picked up the cutest robotic dog that I really wanted to play with. We also grabbed a pretend tool set, where the power tools actually move and make noise…which Husband R-E-A-L-L-Y wanted to play with. We are big kids! And finally, we grabbed a perplexus, which is essentially a puzzle challenge. 

For the our 15 year niece, we picked up a Forever 21 gift card and a few EOS lip balms. Good gifts for a teenage girl right?

{Other Family Members}
With my side of the family, we only gift immediate family {parents + sister} and our nieces/nephews on that side. This is mostly because my side is so large! But Husband's family is small comparatively and we make an effort to do something for everyone. For our aunt and uncle….we sent them homemade peppermint marshmallow creme sugar cookies in a festive holiday box. 
Husband's paternal grandpa is 97 years old. 
When you survive fighting in World War II and the Great Depression, I think practical gifts are preferred. I whipped up this gift basket with the story of a Christmas orange in mind. We filled a reusable basket with oranges and tangerines…plus a jar of blood orange marmalade. Everything was topped off with my homemade cranberry-orange muffins.  

Lastly, was Husband's cousin and his wife. Their son who we consider our nephew {but is technically our second cousin} was the recipient of the play drill set! But we decided his parents deserved a little something too and gifted them a box of gourmet chocolates from our favorite Boston shop. 

While receiving presents is the most wonderful thing, gifting others is even better. Everyone does gifts a little differently. Some families don't exchange gifts at all, while others go completely over the top! Some people guys gifts, while still yet others give homemade gifts. As you can see, we do a little of both. Christmas definitely isn't about the presents {neither giving or receiving} but it has become a fun part of the holiday tradition. We got so much joy from thinking up, picking out, and creating gifts we thought our loved ones would enjoy, that I couldn't help myself and I had to share. 

Follow along with Blogmas to see more holiday fun everyday this month

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