...but I want it all!

"But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.'" - Luke 2:10

Today is December 23rd which means Christmas is only 2 days away! What does this mean for last-minute shoppers? It's CRUNCH time.

While I'm proud to say that majority of my Christmas shopping is actually complete (usually I'm just getting started!), there was still someone in our family who wanted to find gifts for the big day: my little sister Alana or "Lana Bug" as I call her.

It was kinda funny that she brought this up because I'd actually been thinking about giving her some money to shop on her own this year. I had remembered how it felt when my Grandpa gave my sister, Asante & I money to buy Christmas gifts when we were younger. In the scope of things, the $100 he gave each of us wasn't much, but it was my first true taste of being a giver at Christmas - not just a recipient! It felt good to put thought into what would be meaningful to each of my loved ones and actually get to participate in purchasing the gifts. With a limited amount of money, it also taught me a bit about budgeting...(more on that in a sec!).

Now, it was Alana's turn to officially become a giver!

As she requested, we went Christmas shopping yesterday as a family - Alana, Asante, our mom, and I. When she and my mom got in the car, Alana was excited to get going! My mom let me know that Alana had about $40 of her own. I told Alana that I would matched that, which gave her about $80 to spend on Christmas gifts (CHA-CHING!).

I then ask, "So, who's all on your Christmas list?"

She replied,"I don't know..."

"What you mean you don't know? You don't know who you want to buy gifts for?" I shot back.

"No...I'll just have to see..." Alana said in a "matter of fact" sorta way...

Interesting strategy...

What she was sure of was that she wanted to start her shopping off at Claire's.

Now, as a kid, Claire's was one of my favorite stores to go into. The store is full of cutesy, girlie items, like jewelry, makeup, accessories, etc. One thing that Claire's isn't though: cheap.

I warned her of this and told her that she might be able to get more gifts for her money by going to a place like Five Below - she wasn't feeling that much. She insisted that Claire's was where she wanted to go...

So, that's where we started. She walked in and immediately noticed a bunch of cute things that wanted to buy for her friends:

Stitch stuffed animal? $30.

Cute necklace? $25. Fuzzy purse? $50.

This was her first real experience with shopping and she was learning very quickly how far her money wasn't going to go.

As she searched around the store finding item after item that she liked, she became increasingly discouraged about getting gifts for everyone. I took her over to the Clearance section and showed her all of the marked down items that would fit her budget more... (apparently, they weren't cutting it!)

Lana Bug was learning a lesson that anyone who's grown up with limited resources has to learn: you can't have it all. Instead, you have to make the best of the resources that you do have (or find a way to earn more!). Our Bug-a-Boo was growing up before our very eyes...

Eventually, she caught on.

I think she'd forgotten that I'd matched her money and had given her $40 more, so that freed up her spending. She ended up finding a couple of bracelets for her friends, a necklace for her and my mom, and even went back to that Clearance section she turned her nose up at...

Later, we went to Five Below - this is when she hit the motherload. She was extremely delighted to learn that most items in the store are $5 or less!

Unlike Claire's, where she felt limited, she was now able to shop more freely in this store. She zipped through the aisles throwing all kinds of gifts in her cart: T-shirts. Cups. Slippers. Doggie Items. You name it!

My Lana Bug was having a ball. So much that, by the time we walked out the store, she said, "I love Five Below!" - the same store she wasn't initially feeling.

That said, here are a few takeaways from her shopping experience yesterday:

1. You can't always have it all...so make the most of what you do have.

   
   

2. Sometimes it takes a not-so-great luxury experience to appreciate a more humbler one.

   
   

3. It is truly better to give than to receive. Giving brings mutual joy to the giver and the receiver. I learned that as a kid and Alana now knows that...and it brought me great joy to help give her this experience of Christmas shopping for herself.

4. 
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   When it was all said and done, Alana is all set for Christmas and my family and I had a fun time of shopping and laughter. Thank you God for this wonderful time and another Christmas to spend together!