Planning for Christmas

I can't believe it will be Christmas in 11 days time.

It's been a really awful year, but we have been hanging out for the holidays - Miss G is that little bit older now and has been thoroughly excited about the entire season, which brings us so much joy. She's been so excited about putting up the tree, getting ready for Santa, visiting family over the holidays. I can't wait for Christmas morning.

There's still sadness here though. This year, we would have been having our first Christmas as a family of four, with a pudgy little infant joining his big sister under the tree. Rinse and repeat with other pregnancies we lost.. and the fact that we'd hoped to have a Christmas announcement for this most recent loss.. and yep, there's sadness here. 

But we're moving forward. Taking a bit of a social media break. Trying to get our faith in in this whole process back somehow. And trying to spend all of our energy focusing on us, instead of everybody else - something that's not as easy as it sounds to do.

Speaking of us ... it's gift talk time.

For Him:

This year, hubby requested a techy present, so he has already picked out a nifty little sound bar system to go under our television. I was a little cranky at the time (as I'd already decided to get him one) but he found a bargain this past week, so grabbed it himself. He'll still have a few other little gifts under the tree, though. :) 

For Her:

There's no way that I can get the Christmas miracle that I've been dreaming about for so long, so I put my energy towards adopting a new fur member of our family... but hubby's not on board with that, so that won't work. Perfume, well, I have a truckload of it.. and the only one that I really want this year is one I'm *hoping* that my family Secret Santa will bring me. A gift card for my Kindle? A cleaner for a month? I have no idea.

For now, my gift is yet to be determined. There's nothing I really need. I'm pretty lucky in that respect. 

For the Toddler:

Miss G is going to wake up on Christmas morning and find a great new play kitchen under the Christmas tree. She's had a tiny one and loved it, so we are upgrading to a larger neutral one. We're also getting her a bunch more food items and cooking appliances, because she loves imaginative play.

Her grandparents bought her a beautiful new quilt and cover set for her big girl bedroom, which we ended up breaking out early when we upgraded her room. Her other grandparents have bought her a cute little bike with training wheels and tassels (!) which is pretty exciting. I think she'll love them all!

What are your go-to gifts this season?