Values

Around the holidays, I think everyone has a tendency to sit back and think about what they value in life. Growing up, my parents worked very hard and lived a frugal life. They never had fancy cars, our house was a modest ranch, and I tease my Mom incessantly about the fact that if I ever wanted anything in life...it ALWAYS had to be for a birthday gift or Christmas gift. The funny thing is, she just sent me this article titled "How to curb kids' impulse buying" and this was number 1 on the list. 

1.     Provide for needs, but not wants
According to Ron Lieber, the New York Times “Your Money” columnist who is currently working on a book titled “The Opposite of Spoiled,” one approach, starting around kindergarten, is to buy your kids presents only at holidays and birthdays, and have children pay for everything else.

Of course I laughed pretty hard....so she DID know what she was doing when raising me. I was never decked out with all new outfits for "back to school" shopping, and Christmas was usually one nice gift....and no stockings! Sounds evil right? (Mom..if you are reading this...you know all of this is true). But one thing that my parents instilled in me, was to spend money on time, not things.
We might have scoured the clearance racks to get good deals, but we always went on nice vacations. As I got older....the trips only got better. If my Mom got a Christmas bonus, you bet we spent it on a nice trip to Mexico. She would always say "Just remember, Christmas will be small." Totally fine with me! One of my last memories with my Dad was an awesome trip to Cancun. These are memories that I will have forever, side splitting stories of my Dad eating corn kernels off the tablecloth after a few cocktails.

So this year, I had the complete disaster the awesome opportunity to get the kids passports and take them on a Disney cruise.

Plastic crap from China will only hold their attention for weeks to months. Memories and pictures of a fun family trip will last a lifetime. I feel like this passport is a ticket to future opportunities to show the kids the world. I couldn't be more excited to have an adult only dinner spend a week together having fun in the sun! I hope it's a blast!

The Christmas tree (that's half lit.....thanks pre-lit trees! what a rip!) will be a little bare this year. But come February....our hearts will be full! What values did your parents instill in you that are still important in your life?