The
Christmas season is a busy time of the year for everyone with Christmas
parties, present buying and visiting family. This is all in addition to the
year-round regular day-to-day activities. But there’s one family member that
takes on the responsibility for making Christmas happen and that’s usually mom.
So, as an appreciation for all the hard work mothers put into the Christmas
season, we asked three Tupelo mama’s a few questions about their Christmas
preparedness, triumphs and ideals.
Here are
our three Tupelo mamas:
Name:
Ashley Buse
Occupation:
Pharmaceutical Sales
Kids: Tripp
(5), Foley (3)
Name:
Carley Johnston
Occupation:
Stay at home mom
Kids: Maury
(13), Lucy (10), Rebecca (8), Celia (5)
Name: Paige
Scruggs
Occupation:
Attorney
Kids:
Savannah (8), Charlie (6)
And here is
what they had to say:
1.) Where do you get your gift ideas?
Ashley: I
get my ideas from each individual person I buy for. I try to pick up on things
they say throughout the year and incorporate that into my gift purchases! My
Christmas list: husband, 2 kids, parents, husband’s parents, my 2 sisters,
their families, my sister in-law, her husband and kids and my husband’s
grandparents.
Carley: I
ask the girls, look online for ideas and ask other moms. Other moms are
probably my best resource!
Paige: I
now get my gift ideas directly from lists. For years I liked to buy things I
thought my children should have: education toys, interesting books (read:
encyclopedias and atlases), nifty sets of magnets and bars you can use to
construct. I wanted them to learn to be imaginative. Those toys are gathering
dust. Now I just want to get down to brass tacks. I want to know exactly what
they want and that is exactly what I am getting.
2.) What is
your approach to shopping for your family for Christmas?
Ashley: I
am a year round shopper. If I find something that I love for a particular
person on my list, I buy it. The only downfall to this is you find yourself
buying too much for everyone!!
Carley:
Online because of the convenience but shopping local is what I prefer. I have
only sent my husband for a Black Friday special once – a couple of years ago. I
usually avoid shopping on Black Friday, but I do like Cyber Monday.
Paige: Here
is my approach: Every December I say to myself, “I am starting early next year.
By November I will have mostly everything.” Then, I never do that and I am with
all of the other crazies out there the week before Christmas trying to get my
shopping done. I literally got the last of one certain gift in the WHOLE CITY
OF BIRMINGHAM because I waited until the last minute. I called all of the
possible stores, found ONE and then raced to get it. In my defense, I had
completely forgotten my child wanted that gift until the last minute. Wait- is
that a defense?
3.) How do you
balance being a mother, Christmas shopping and the general busyness of the
holiday season?
Ashley: A
good husband!!! For our family nothing is 100% on me and for that I am
thankful. I work a full-time job, as does my husband and we work as a team to
make sure all of our bases are covered. If I need to get out and get some
shopping, my husband keeps the kids and that allows me time to Christmas shop
once I get off work or during the weekends.
Carley:
Trying to balance everything is so difficult! I have tried to scale back on our
Christmas and lower my own expectations on what will get done. Three of my
daughters have birthdays between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that adds to
the list as well. School and church activities also take up a lot of time and
add to all the clutter in my brain. Every year I say I am going to start
earlier and be done by Thanksgiving. I know Christmas is the same time every
year, but this year has been hard because Thanksgiving was late in November.
It’s like December sneaks up on us moms!
Paige:
Balance smalance. There is no balancing. The scale is terribly off kilter in
one direction or the other at all times. Things are forgotten (including
people) and cookies are burned. Sometimes certain “things” don’t get moved. (I
have to be elusive here because my child can read.) I do the best I can to get
it all done but it just simply doesn’t always happen. The sun will rise
tomorrow though, so I try not to stress it.
4.) What is the
most enjoyable part about Christmas shopping or is it just too stressful?
Ashley: Are
you familiar with the 5 Love Languages? It breaks down 5 areas of how you feel
most loved. My love language is definitely gifts. I feel loved by someone who
gives me a gift, and you tend to show love to others the way you like to feel
loved so therefore I really enjoy buying gifts. It’s the simple things that
don’t cost much that mean the most to me. I really enjoy seeing someone’s face
when they open a gift that they really wanted or were completely shocked by! It
warms my heart.
Christmas
shopping doesn’t stress me out at all. I am that person who walks in the door
and hands someone a gift and demands them to open it right then because they
are going to LOVE it!
Carley: I
love finding a gift that I know that person will love, especially one that they
haven’t even thought of to tell me. I get so excited about gift-giving! I just
wish I had more time to really browse and find things that are unique and suit
each person’s personality or likes. And I love to wrap gifts! I usually have to
stay up extra late after the kids are asleep and wrap the gifts.
Paige: Oh,
I love Christmas shopping! It is when I find the most things that I need. And
yes, I enjoy shopping for others too. It doesn’t stress me to shop. It stresses
me when I wait until the last minute and everyone is sold out of the one thing
I need and expedited shipping costs $58.90.
5.) What was
the most memorable gift giving Christmas?
Ashley: Of
course, I have to say my engagement ring, right?! How could that not be the
most memorable gift? I do, however, pick with my husband because I say the only
reason we got engaged around Christmas was so he wouldn’t have to buy me any
more gifts! Ha!
Carley: I
still remember spending a lot of time shopping and wrapping when my oldest two
daughters were toddlers. My daughter Lucy was most excited about the cookie she
found left on Santa’s plate. I just laughed. All that frantic activity, money
and time spent and an Oreo was her favorite thing that morning.
As a child
I remember when I was about 10 or 11, I searched all over and found where my
mother had hidden my presents. I even played with them! A day or two before
Christmas, I could no longer live with the guilt. I went to my mother, sobbing,
and confessed. I had no surprises that Christmas, and I had taken a lot of her
joy away by finding all those presents. I learned a lesson that day and never
looked for my presents again. My mother is still the best at buying gifts that
are special and wonderful surprises for everyone. I really strive to do for my kids
what she did for me as a child.
Paige:
Hmmm. This one is tough. I suppose the most memorable so far was the year we
gave our kids a trip to Disney. We went to the trouble of finding a huge box
and filling it with helium balloons. I’m talking about blowing up helium
balloons on Christmas Eve, putting them in a box (which is no easy feat-imagine
trying to get all of the balloons in a box and the lid shut before they
escape), taping it shut and wrapping an enormous box. It was a production. I
was so proud.
The next
day we got out a video recorder to capture their faces which were sure to
express pure and unadulterated joy. What did we get? Nothing. No expression.
They could not understand what their present was. They were 2 and 4. We blew
that awesome present experience on babies. What a waste. They did enjoy Disney
however, so I count it as a win.
6.) What is
your greatest gift-giving triumph?
Ashley: I
was on the phone with my mom last week, and we were trying to come up with
things to give everyone for Christmas. We kept saying, I mean there is
absolutely nothing we need! So she calls me today, and said she spent the money
she would normally spend on us (us meaning myself, my sisters and our husbands)
and went and bought a car load of toys for this single mom with four children
who she overheard someone talking about they didn’t have anything. She said it
just broke her heart and she couldn’t stand knowing those kids didn’t have any
gifts. As tears rolled down my face, I told my mom that is what Christmas is
about. Loving others as Christ loved us.
Carley: I
can’t think of one! Maybe it will be this year! I do remember when I was
pregnant with my first child I had all my shopping done before her due date,
which was Thanksgiving. That was the only year I was that on top of Christmas
shopping.
Paige: My
greatest gift giving triumph is not Christmas related. My husband is impossible
to surprise. When opening gifts he generally says, “Do you want me to tell you
what it is?” Sucks the joy right out of gift giving. However, one year I
managed to surprise him. We went to a Pittsburgh Steelers’ playoff game earlier
in the year. I took the best pictures, the tickets and the Terrible Towel and
had them framed together. It was a lot of work and effort. I completely surprised
him and felt wholly validated as a gift giver. He was thrilled and very sweetly
said that I had framed his Terrible Towel and now he would have to get another
one. You.Are.Welcome.
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