Merry Christmas & a blessed 2011 to all

I hope everyone had a very merry CHRISTmas & a great new year's eve & new year's day as well.

The economy has not been in our favor for a while now, but we worked really hard to pull off Christmas for the kids.  They each got 2 gifts & they were pretty simple gifts.  Nothing super fancy & expensive, nothing over $100 at least.  I am amazed at how many expensive gadgets abound in this day & age that kids want & see all their friends with.  Christmas could easily cost some folks an outright fortune!  Lil J got a tricycle & a potty chair. 

But lots of family & a couple of friends gave the kids gifts (& me & hubby as well) which was a real blessing. 

Hubby got me clothes & a gift card to buy more clothes.  I desperately need clothes I must say.  I haven't bought any since 2007 (with the excpetion of a few maternity items during my pregnancy in late 2008) & there's plenty I've had to get rid of in my closet cuz it just doesn't fit me right since having a baby. 

Hubby also gave me a gift card to Target & said it was for Lil J.  I asked how much it was for & he said $20 or $25, he couldn't remember (he had actually been given it by a vendor at work, but instead of spending it on himself he knew that Lil J needed some things & he passed it on).  We did still need some things for Lil J so I headed to Target to get those things & when it was rung up it was $48 worth of stuff!  I was panicking in my mind, trying to figure out how to pay for the rest of it.  I handed over the gift card & was digging through my purse looking for my ATM card only to find that it was a $50 gift card & it was all covered, with a dollar & some change to spare.  I can't even put into words how blessed I felt at that moment.  The Lord provided & Lil J got the clothes & things that he needed.  I did buy him a couple of fun things (Veggie Tales Jonah movie-it was on the clearance rack & I've been wanting it for a long time, couldn't pass up the price; color wonder markers & coloring book-I got the smallest & cheapest set I could find; & the rest was pants & necessities).  I am thrilled with the pants I found for him.  They were on the clearance rack.  They are cherokee brand, with the zipper & snap fly.  I love these, but can never spend for them when they are full price.  I always end up buying the cheapie Circo pants, but they don't have a zipper or snap & it makes it really hard to get them on him, to get up over the diaper.  When hubby complains I remind him that these are the $3 pants, we didn't pay for a zipper, LOL.  The Cherokee ones are usually well over $10 in comparison, but I got them on clearance for $5!!  So now we have enough pants for him (8 pairs) to get through a week without doing laundry for him.  (that's a plus with the water bill while we are in drought mode!) & I don't think he'll outgrow them anytime soon.  I would guesstimate that he will grow out of them next winter at the soonest, they might even last longer than that, as they are too long for him right now.  We still have some shorts that should fit him this summer, so that helps too.  We might need a couple of shorts this summer, but aside from that I think we'll be set for the whole rest of the year pretty well now.We definitely have enough shirts to get through the summer.  So I think we'll be set until next winter probably all the way around.

I took the gift card hubby gave me to buy clothes & got a crock pot with it, but it was cheap, so there's still money to buy clothes with.  I just need TIME to go try on clothes & browse & shop.  That's tough to do with a toddler.  But I will give it my best shot as soon as I can.  My stepson is on his Christmas break still & I don't want to go while he's with us & leave him at home alone.  So I will probably be able to make time once he's back in school.  I need to take a look in my closet & see what I really need & prioritize it that way.  Hubby got me 2 pairs of pants, but they didn't look good on me, so we've returned them & I plan to use that money to buy jeans.  I do DESPERATELY need new jeans more than anything else. 

I hope everyone had a blessed holiday season.  Bring on 2011 & I'm praying it's a better year all the way around than the past couple of years have been.