Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Here’s a very delicious guest post by Allyson at A Heart For Home. WOW, these look good!!
   

In case you’re like me and still looking for an excuse to eat more pumpkin goodies even after Thanksgiving, here’s a pumpkin cookie recipe we’ve really enjoyed this fall. So far, everyone loves the results. One family we shared these with even said they seemed healthy enough that they enjoyed them for breakfast!
 
We adapted the recipe a little to use healthier ingredients. Here’s our version:
 
Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese FrostingYum
Makes approximately 3 1/2 dozen cookies
 
Cookies
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
 2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cup sucanat
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted and slightly cooled)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
 
Frosting
4 ounces room temperature cream cheese
2 Tablespoon coconut oil (melted and slightly cooled)
1/2 cup powdered sucanat
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
To Prepare Cookies:
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.
2. Mix first set of cookie ingredients (flour through salt) in a medium bowl.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sucanat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes.
4. Add in the oil, vanilla extract and pumpkin. Beat until mixed.
5. Add flour mixture and beat until just combined.
6. Spoon batter onto parchment paper in heaping Tablespoon portions spaced 2 inches apart.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until bottoms begin to brown slightly and tops do not appear wet. You can check by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean you’re good to go.
8. Remove cookies from cookie sheet and place on a wire rack to cool.
 
To Prepare Frosting:
1. Whip all ingredients in a small mixing bowl.
2. Spread or pipe on to cooled (or slightly cooled) cookies.
 
Or you can do what I did and pipe that frosting onto the cookies right out of the oven, grab a glass of cold milk and call it a day.
 
You could leave the frosting off entirely, especially if you are trying to limit your sugar intake, but this frosting is Oh! So! Good!
 
Enjoy!
  
Allyson is the wife to an amazing husband and the mama to three energetic children ages 3 1/2, 2 and 9 months. She spends her days scrubbing counters and faces, washing dishes and bad attitudes and learning to lean on God’s grace. Allyson blogs about her family and their strivings to be good stewards of their relationships, home, time, finances, health and environment at A Heart for Home.

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Gifts of Games

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Well now, games are not as practical a gift as say…socks and tweezers. But I like giving games as gifts because they bring people together for fellowship. Games create great family fun and are a wonderful way to learn.

(I don’t think I would actually ever give tweezers as a gift, by the way…it was simply the first practical item I could think of after socks, mainly because my eyebrows could stand some plucking right now.)

That was more than you needed to know, wasn’t it?

First I’ll list my favorite recommended games, then I’ll take care of the eyebrows. Here are my family’s favorite games in no particular order:

CandyLand, Hi Ho Cherry-O and Chutes and Ladders

Okay actually, I don’t really like playing Chutes and Ladders. I really, really don’t like it. It feels like the game that never ends. It just goes on and on my friends. As soon as someone gets almost to the top of the board to win, they hit a chute and down they go to practically the bottom which means that they have to start over and a mom can only handle so much of a good thing before she wants to flick a little game character across the room. However, it’s a great counting game and it’s inexpensive. I enjoy CandyLand and Hi Ho Cherry-O much better and while you’d think Hi Ho Cherry-O would make me hungry for fruit, CandyLand makes me hungry for gum drops. Why? I don’t know. I don’t even like gum drops.

Apples to Apples and Apples to Apples Junior

We love playing a few rounds of Apples to Apples Junior some evenings and it’s great for building up vocabulary. If you play the regular version of Apples to Apples with your kids (not the junior version), be aware that you’ll be teaching them some vocabulary, or some characters, that you’d rather not teach them about right now. Like Madonna.

Farkle

Even our littlest guy can play Farkle. It’s a great dice game that’s very inexpensive.

Pass the Pigs

We got Pass the Pigs last year and it’s really fun! Of all things, there are two little rubberized piggies that you toss and get points for how they land. WHO thought of this, I’d like to know? But whatever. It’s a fun and uncomplicated game.

Settlers of Catan, and a bunch of Catan add on games

My husband (and now my older sons) are very much into long, drawn out strategy games (like Risk). The game of Risk makes me want put my tweezers in my shoe, stand on it and pluck my eyebrows out with my fingernails, but they like it so what’s a mom to do? But Settlers of Catan? That’s a strategy game I can handle. Usually. And then there are add on games that you can get to go with it like Cities and Knights and Seafarers of Catan.

Manhattan

Okay, now Manhattan is very much a game I recommend if your husband likes strategy games and you really don’t like thinking hard while you play a game. Manhattan takes about an hour to an hour and a half to play and is not complicated at all, yet there is strategy involved. I REALLY like Manhattan and reallllly recommend it. More about Manhattan when I talk about Gifts for Men.

Uno Attack

Uno Attack is just regular Uno with a goofy twist. The machine spits out cards at you and kids love it. This game has given us lots of laughs, and often too many cards to hold at one time.

Sequence

Sequence is fun for kids about seven years old and up. I really like playing this with my kids. I’ve noticed a Sequence for Kids, but haven’t played it. Anyone want to share thoughts about Sequence for Kids?

Disney Scene It

We first played Disney Scene It while at some friends house for a party. It was SO much fun to watch the different scenes on the screen and try to see if you could yell out the answer first. Yeah, the kids almost always beat the adults. :)

Quelf

I’ve recently been introduced to Quelf by my friend Rhonda. She said it’s a hoot! Anyone else played Quelf? I’m thinking my boys would like it and I may put it on our list sometime.

Okay everyone…pipe in here with your own favorite games! Which great ones did I forget? Which of the ones I mentioned are your favorites?

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The Most Practical Gifts

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Hello, my name is Laura and I’m a bundle of fun and a barrel of laughs. Being with me is a hoot. I’m one big party. I give the coolest gifts.

Just kidding. About all of it. Except that my name really is Laura.

I can be kinda fun and I like to host parties. I have barrels of wheat and bundles of brown rice, both of which I think are a hoot. Which leads me to the “coolest gift” statement. The fact that I think wheat and rice are so exciting may tell you something about the gifts I give. I will never win the “Coolest Gift Giver Prize”.

I’m not too much into giving junky or fru-fru gifts and I don’t usually like to spend a lot, not because I’m stingy (hopefully), but just because I don’t see the importance of spending tons of money on gifts. Unless someone needs something.

I am a Practical Gift Giver. 

Gifts for our boys usually include items of clothing they need, shoes, jammies and books. They get some toys too, but I’ve got to see the practicality in the toy before I’ll spend money or Swagbucks on it. (Like Legos. I can totally get into Legos.)

And games. I love games. Especially if they are games I can win.

Did I just say that out loud?

I think I come by my Practical Gift Giving honestly. One Christmas my grandma gave all of the men in the family a pair of ear plugs. All of them. My dad, my brother, my uncles, my cousins…all of them. We were a family of farmers (and preachers…hmmm..) so ear plugs were a very practical gift. But we all got tickled because everyone started putting them in and wearing them around during our big get-together. Every single male in our family looked ridiculous, but that’s okay. They couldn’t hear all of us females laughing and making fun of them.

Ah the memories. 

I say all that to let you know that I’m getting ready to write a short series here with some practical gift suggestions. I already wrote a post about Gifts for Women. Cast Iron, Pyrex Dishes, Stoneware. Practical.  Makes me SO happy.

Here are the posts I have planned so far:

Gifts of Books
Gifts of Games (The kind I can win – just kidding – not really)
Toys I Like (to watch my kids play with)
Stocking Stuffers for Kids (Yes, these can actually be practical)
Stocking Stuffers for Moms (Yes, because Moms really can have a stuffed stocking)
Gifts for Men (If you can twist my arm hard enough. It’s HARD to buy for men, much less post about it.)

I promise not to suggest that you buy ear plugs. But I may request some for myself this year. Have you ever tried to write a complete sentence with the noise going on at my house?

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Homemade Peppernuts (the best little cookies in the world)

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Peppernuts

There’s pepper in these cookies? Surely not! Yes, that’s why they’re called Peppernuts. Oh, but there are no nuts in the cookies. They’re called peppernuts because they have pepper in them, they are tiny and you eat them like you would eat a handful of nuts. Thus the name Peppernuts.

The best thing about Peppernuts? They taste just like my Grandma’s. I was so excited after I ate my first one twelve (it’s okay, they’re tiny, remember?). I hadn’t had a peppernut for YEARS, because the only person I ever knew to make them was Grandma and she’s been gone since before my oldest was born.  Peppernuts…such sweet little bites of memories.

Peppernuts had actually fallen off my radar until my friend Gail mentioned them to me a couple of months ago. Suddenly…I NEEDED some peppernuts. Gail found a recipe and emailed it to me. Then of course I “whole wheat floured” and “sucanated” it…and woohoo…just like Grandma’s!

This experience gave me a whole new respect for Grandma because these tiny little cookies are a little bit time intensive. They’re not hard to make mind you…but the recipe makes a HUGE batch of dough, then you roll the dough into teeny tiny snakes and cut off teeny tiny pieces and you bake them into teeny tiny cookie bites. It took two to three hours to get through all of the dough. It was worth the time and effort, but I’m guessing I’ll only be making these a few times a year.

Homemade PeppernutsYum

Homemade Peppernuts (the best little cookies in the world)
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • 2-4 cups sucanat
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon real maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 Tablespoon hot water
  • 6-7 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ginger
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon allspice
  • ½ teaspoon cloves
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
  1. Beat first five ingredients well.
  2. Dissolve soda in water then add to first five ingredients.
  3. Mix well.
  4. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture.
  5. Knead into firm dough (hand mixing will probably be required.
  6. This dough is too stiff for most electric mixers).
  7. Chill overnight or at least two hours.
  8. Roll into "snake-like rolls" a little smaller than dime size in diameter.
  9. Cut into small pieces about ¼" thick.
  10. Place on a cookie sheet and bake in 350° oven for 7-8 minutes.
  11. Store in an airtight container.

And now, some Peppernut Pictures…

As you can see from the amount of ingredients, this recipe does make a huge big blob of dough:

If in fact you cut your tiny little pieces not quite tiny enough, they expand and bake together into one huge crazy looking…thing…on your baking pan. You will then learn that your idea of tiny wasn’t tiny enough and you need to cut them even tinier. Take note, the following peppernuts are cut too big (even though they look small) and are too close together on the pan.

Which resulted in something freaky like this:

Instead cut them teeny-tiny like this:

So that they will look like this:

It is a little bit fun if they are too close together on the pan and you get a peppernut snowman:

Or a peppernut worm:

After you have rolled and cut your twenty sixth snake, you will realize that it’s easier to line up a snake or two and cut them at the same time. This revelation saves you 18 precious seconds.

 

 

 

These Peppernuts fill up the biggest bowl you have and then some. They’re great to package up in small bags to give as Christmas time gifts to coworkers and neighbors.

 

But of course, you should put some in cute jars and keep them in your kitchen for family time munching with Hot Cocoa.

You know what’s better than eating  Peppernuts?

Looking at Peppernuts in cute jars.

Or is that just me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Save your holiday season by letting Simple Meals do your thinking for you. Imagine! You can still put healthy meals on the table even during the hubbub of all your holiday duties!

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Gratituesday: No Regrets

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Brace yourself for a longer than normal post. I had to stop now and then in the middle of writing to jump up and down with excitement, so it took me a little while to get through this.  :)

We never really know what God is going to do in our life in any given season. If there’s anything I’ve learned during the past few years of changes and challenges, it’s that God’s ways are best no matter if they are painful to go through or joyful.

This newest change in our lives? Oh so completely joyful.

And born out of some pain and challenges.

Which is what makes this change so joyful.

Want me to tell you about it? Oh good, I would love to.

My husband Matt is very “visionary” as in…he is a guy full of great business and ministry ideas. Constantly. All the time.  One of his ideas a few years ago was to look into opening a restaurant. He had loads of business ideas for a restaurant and knew that it would be a great way to be with and serve people in the community. 

Then last year, someone offered him a position as assistant manager of a brand new restaurant opening up in town. It was a perfect opportunity to try out his restaurant dream without having a huge financial investment. He would be working for a fellow church member and we would have a steady income. We went for it!

Within the past fifteen months as Matt has worked out at Southside Grille, we’ve appreciated so many aspects about the job. We’ve been so thankful for the consistent pay check, for the chance for Matt to be out in the community visiting with people, for the opportunity to pursue a dream. God has been so good to give us that. And yet…

Our family time has really been suffering. Matt’s schedule has been a tough one, which has caused his life to feel unbalanced. He found that week after week as he helped figure out the work schedule that he’d have to choose between missing a church event or a family event. How’s a guy supposed to choose between going to a mid-week Bible study or going to his son’s soccer game?

Little by little we recognized that this lifestyle and job didn’t match up with the desires and spiritual goals we have for our family, and there didn’t seem to be any relief in sight. We aren’t quitters, and yet, we began to see that for Matt to stay with this job would mean that he would continue to miss out on and neglect so many of the things we feel are most important. 

Three or four months ago we began to talk about and pray about the possibility of Matt doing something else. He was continuing to miss time with us that he didn’t want to miss any more. At the end of each day (and at the end of his life), he wanted to have “no regrets about how he spent his time”. 

And so.

Four weeks ago, Matt resigned from his job at Southside Grille, effective December 18.

Can I just say, we are so full of joy and peace over this decision and the possibilities it presents that we are bouncing off walls and doing back flips?!! God has given us this opportunity and we can not wait to see what He has in mind for our family.

So, the question many people around here have, and one I would assume you are wondering as well is:  What is Matt going to do now? 

We aren’t able to put our finger on any one thing, because there truly isn’t just one thing. We plan to go back to being exclusively self-employed and have multiple streams of income as there are many things we are interested in doing. Most of them involve working togther as a couple and often will include the kids. In addition, we own and rent out storage units, which are now paid off and creating income. Matt has had a snow removal business for the past three years that he’ll continue to grow – although this particular business tends to be quite slow in the summertime. :)   He plans to join forces even more than he already does here at Heavenly Homemakers, working some of the business and marketing end of things so that I can focus more on writing.

And…we plan to dream together.

My visionary husband is going to keep dreaming and pursuing some new dreams. I am so, so excited for him.

We’ll be “doing teamwork” while we homeschool and train our boys. We’ll be pursuing some of the ministries that are on our hearts but that have been on the back burner for a while.

Yes indeed. We get to be a team.  I mean, we’ve always been a team. But now, we get to work together almost constantly, getting the boys more involved with some of Matt’s business ideas and work. 

In case you’re concerned or wondering, we’ve been financially planning for this life change and would not be making this move if we were not prepared. That alone has been a wonderful lesson for our boys to learn.

I’ll continue to share during the next few weeks more about some of the goals we’re setting and give you an idea of how all of this is going to work for us. I will tell you right now though that one book that’s been a huge help as we’ve worked to take this leap of faith is 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller. It is an EXCELLENT book that encourages us all to find where God has gifted us and find work that will utilize those gifts and provide for your family at the same time. We recommend this book wholeheartedly as it has been quite instrumental in changing the focus of our lives.

While we don’t have an ultimate picture of what our lives are about to look like, without a doubt, we see clearly that this is what God wants us to do. And we know with full peace and confidence that He is going to provide everything we need while we work hard for Him…as a team.

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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Kitchen Chore Chart – Free Download!

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Well, I didn’t really know he was going to do this, but I thought it was awfully sweet that while I took the boys on a field trip last week, my husband Matt (did all the breakfast clean up and) wrote a guest post explaining our “Kitchen System“. The system was his idea after all, and it’s been working beautifully. So many of you asked about this system after I wrote about it last week…so here you go! Once it’s springtime again, I think I need Matt to write a guest post about how to build a raised garden bed, what do you think?

 ———————————————————-

My Heavenly Homemaker had too much of the cleaning responsibility in our kitchen falling on her. And I think she felt like the kitchen was falling on her sometimes. We have children ages 5 (he’ll tell you five and three quarters) through 13 right now. They should be doing more. Rarely will a child just magically hop in and do more. If you are blessed with one of those who jumps in and works hard, it is due to your parenting. BRAVO! If they need some help in this area, then likewise, it is up to your parenting. Laura and I recognized that our boys needed guidance in this area so we came up with a Kitchen Chore Chart aka The System. 

We spend a lot of time in the kitchen, making many messes and monumental masterpieces there, but Mom was usually stuck with the aftermath. Notice I said “was.” We’ve moved from (after)math to music (to her ears). In our effort to conduct our family as an orchestra playing a work of art we are becoming more organized. Below is our plan for kitchen chores plus some other cleaning that we felt was being overlooked or needed to be systematized. Click on the link below to download:

Kitchen Chore Chart

Remake or tweak the chart to fit your context. Then FOLLOW THROUGH. Be the parent. I know this audience is overwhelmingly Moms, but Dads, get on board with the plan. Yes, literally mark your name/initials on the chart and work alongside your family. I have had fun and I have been firm also. You reap what you sow. So sow seeds that will reap dividends better than so-so. (I couldn’t resist.)

A few notes:

1) In the early, training days of implementation it will probably take you and the team longer to complete the tasks than if you just did it yourself, but after proper training, it will pay off.

2) We are rotating the duties every meal and changing the lineup a bit daily in hopes that it won’t get old and because each day is different.

3) Obviously, older kids can do some chores that younger ones aren’t capable of yet, but don’t forget to graduate the younger ones onto higher expectations. Right now our chart separates “Put away leftovers” from “Clear table/buffet” so that our youngest has a couple of different chores he can do or team up with someone else to do. In a year we’ll probably combine the two.

4) Ideally, the chart is updated for the following day at the end of the day so you aren’t scrambling, confused or arguing the next morning. Hmmm, does that sound like we have had that experience?

Field trip this morning that Mom and the boys went on,
so breakfast was a little out of the norm on this chart.

Many hands, even mini-hands, make light work…when trained and organized.
————————————————

Laura here…I will state again what Matt said in this post:  Download the Kitchen Chore Chart we’ve come up with to get an idea of what works for us, but be sure to revamp it to meet your needs! And just in case you were wondering, “Mo” stands for Mom and “Ma” stands for Malachi. And “D” stands for Dad because we couldn’t have another “Ma” that stood for Matt. Wow, this system is really complicated, huh? Okay, no, not really.

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Menu Plan for the Week

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sourdoughpancakessm.JPG

 Here’s our menu plan for this week!

Sunday, December 5
Oatmeal, pears
Roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy
Chicken veggie quesadillas, clementines

Monday,  December 6
Simple Soaked Pancakes, blueberries
Salmon patties, potato wedges, peas
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans

Tuesday, December 7
Fried eggs on toast, tangarines
Pizza casserole, corn, tossed salad
Cheesy salsa enchiladas, fruit salad

Wednesday, December 8
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, apples
Meat and cheese burritos, pomegranate
Italian pasta bake, steamed broccoli and carrots

Thursday, December 9
French toast, peaches
Potato soup, carrot sticks
Grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches, tomato soup

Friday, December 10
Warm chocolate soother, scrambled eggs
Cottage cheese and peaches, toast
Barbecue Brisket, cream scalloped potatoes, green beans

Saturday, December 11
Funnel Cakes
Leftovers
Chicken noodle soup with carrots

Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu planning inspiration!

Free Samples

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Trust Dr. Mercola? and Picky Husbands? Podcast #6

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Well, it’s been a few weeks, but we’ve finally got another podcast ready for you. I had “record a podcast” on my list for days…but never found a quiet moment to record. I can finally check that off my list, but then I’ll add it back on so that I can record Podcast #7 before Easter.

Today, I address a question about Dr. Mercola. Can he be trusted? Are his ideas and opinions valid?

Also, I offer a couple suggestions about switching “from white to brown” when your husband just really doesn’t enjoy those types of food. What to do, what to do?

To  listen to the podcast, simply click on the link below:

Heavenly Homemakers Podcast #6

I’d love for you all to share your thoughts about the information on Dr. Mercola’s Website. Plus, what ideas do you have about pleasing pickier husbands and kids? 

 

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Gifts for Women (a not so subtle hint for husbands…)

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Okay Gals, not that I actually know every item that you would put on your Christmas List, but I took a chance that you and I probably like many of the same kitchen goodies and came up with a list for you to give to your husband or anyone else who might be desperate to buy you something. To make sure he sees this post, conveniently leave it up on the screen and put your laptop in his favorite chair. Or you can just print out the post and circle your favorite choices in bright red lipstick. I’m sorry that I am not at all into bling or fru-fru, so if you want any of those things, you’ll have to tell him yourself. However, if you’re looking to bake or cook or watch wheat turn into flour, I’ve got you covered…

Dear Heavenly Homemakers Husbands,

I’m glad you are so eager to make your wife happy on Christmas morning. I’m pretty sure she would love many of these great items to make her cooking and baking experience wonderful. Now of course, you know that if she has some of these great gadgets, you will benefit. Not that you’re buying her these gifts because of selfish reasons. But hey, there is likely to be a chocolate cake or some homemade bread or even a pie in it for you (quite often I would imagine), so I’d say it’s a win-win. 

I know you guys aren’t so much into words and details so I’ll work hard to simply state the facts. (Food…good…nice gifts…yah)

First, let’s start with Stoneware. I love stoneware and feel that baking in them creates the best bread and brownies ever. Here are some stone baking pans of choice:  Round Pizza Stone; Rectangle Baking Stone Set; Stone Bread Pan. Did you want to see the bread and brownies she can make you with these stones? Yes I thought you did:  Bread…Brownies (food…good). 

Next, let’s look at some Cast Iron. I like having a big Cast Iron Skillet. Your wife can scramble some mean eggs in a skillet like this, or fry up some good burgers or steaks. 

Third, I will show you Stainless Steel Bakeware and Stainless Steel Cookware. Both are among the best quality for your wife to cook with and while they may look a little bit expensive, you should know that they last a million (give or take) times longer than their cheap non-stick counterparts. Plus they’re much safer to cook with and I’m not trying to tug on your heart strings or anything, but I know you do so cherish the health of your beloved.

I can’t leave out Pyrex Dishes. Pyrex Dishes will make your wife’s job of cooking and freezing and reheating leftovers oh so much easier. They are not expensive and they have nice lids that come with them. I like this set and this set and this set and this set. You don’t have to buy them all, but well…you sure could if you wanted to because your wife would find a great use for every single piece.

Don’t get all panicky on me now, but I absolutely have to mention the Grain Mill. I’ve already written you a letter about why you should buy a Grain Mill for your wife, so just head right on over and read all about it. Long story short:  good bread, save money, be healthy without knowing it. Oh and also, your wife will flip with joy when she sees it.

Last but not least, I will mention that your wife might enjoy some of our Hand Crocheted Items, which of course you will be willing to use often as you help her clean and wash dishes. Hey, pick out some things that are the same color as your favorite sports team and you’re all set.

Happy Eating Shopping,
Laura@HeavenlyHomemakers

Wives, what have I forgotten here? What’s on your Christmas list?

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It’s Not in the Budget

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We have a new Christmas shopping tradition at our house. We’ve done it for two years now, so that makes it a tradition, right?

We take a day (and believe me, it does take an entire day) for our kids to Christmas shop for each other, one boy at a time. This means that everyone else stays home playing games with Dad while I take one boy to the store to pick out gifts. The two of us finish, I drop off that boy at home, pick up another, and head back to the store. I do this four times. It’s the best. Not only does each boy get to have one-on-one time with Mom, they get to go to the toy aisle too. It doesn’t get much better than that.

The boys get to spend their own hard earned money on these gifts; what better way to learn about budgeting and spending. Our five year old still doesn’t quite understand that a $119.96 price tag is a bit over $5, so even though his brother would surely love it if he were to purchase the very large and exciting box of Star Wars (trooper, fighter, land speeder, warship, yada yada…) Lego Set, it just costs too much and he’ll have to pick out something else. 

The other boys have a little bit better understanding of how to read a price tag. Usually, as we drive to the store, the two of us talk about how much they plan to spend on each gift and what amount would be wise. 

This is always such a heart-fluttery time for me, as I love spending rare one-on-one time with each boy. Listening to them plan for how they’re going to spend and what they want to get for their brothers (“because I think he’d really, really like it”) makes me get all melty inside. 

And then, my eight year old….oh my eight year old. He was beside himself with excitement during his shopping trip, feeling so grown up with his wallet in his pocket and his list prepared. He was all smiles, but oh so serious about what he had come to the store to do.

As he was picking out a toy for his little brother, I jokingly pointed out a big ticket item and said, “Hey Bud, I think you should get this for him, what do you think?” Looking at the triple figure price tag, his eyes got big and apparently not catching on that I was just kidding, he shook his head and said, “Oh boy. I’d sure like to, but it’s just not in my budget.”

The little cutie. I could have given him a big fat wet kiss right there in front of all the shoppers and Buzz Lightyear for his grown up and wise statement. I resisted and instead snuck in a quick peck on the top of his blond head. He finished his shopping, staying well within his budget and finding fun presents that he was proud to pay for with his own money.

May we all be like the eight year old shopper this year as we make our holiday purchases:  Set a budget. Stick to it.

It’s surprisingly uncomplicated.

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