Our Christmas Shopping Traditions

I remember the fall of 2002 very well. At the time, my husband and I were preparing for November 16, 2002, our wedding day. Because I was fresh out of graduate school and looking for a job and we were scrimping to save for our wedding, we were pretty broke. Since our wedding was right before the holidays, we were also a little nervous about trimming our Christmas tree, both with gifts and decorations.

One of our wedding gifts was a $100 gift card to Neiman Marcus, a well known department store known for selling beautiful things at high prices. Anyone who has ever shopped at Neiman's knows that $100 doesn't get most shoppers very far. We went to the Tyson's Galleria Neiman Marcus location that fall. It was my first time in the store and we were wandering around, our eyes wide and mouths agape at the prices. We were trying to decide on something to spend my sister's gift money on and coming up decidedly short.

Suddenly, my eyes were drawn to the beautiful Christmas display over by the escalators. There were several artificial trees set up. Each one was covered with hundreds of beautiful, handcrafted Christmas ornaments that related to different themes. One nautical themed tree had ornaments that related to the sea. There were beautiful shell ornaments, mermaids, and sparkly blown glass decorations that looked like they belonged at the bottom of the most pristine ocean. Another tree had more traditional ornaments, like elegant blown glass balls and icicles. Still another tree featured ornaments that had to do with popular culture. Neiman Marcus provided handy baskets that made it easy for us to pick and choose which ornaments we wanted. As I picked up the first ornament that caught my eye, I noticed that there was a little metal tag hanging at the top that noted the year. Although some of the ornaments were extremely expensive, most were doable on our $100 budget. We found quite a few priced at under $10 each. When we took our choices up to the counter, the salesperson took the time to wrap each one very carefully and pack them in a beautiful box for us. We went a few dollars over our budget because of sales tax. My husband paid the balance in cash. After we shopped, we went out and had a lovely lunch.

Every year since 2002, my husband and I have gone back to Neiman Marcus at Tyson's Galleria to buy a few new pretty Christmas ornaments for our tree. The great thing about buying ornaments at Neiman's is that every year, the ornaments are different. We make sure to get a few unusual decorations, each one with a tag that commemorates the year. We focus on not spending a lot of money on our new ornaments, trying to find ones that cost less than $10. Then we go out to lunch and enjoy each other's company. I like to think of it as a nice way to kick off the Christmas shopping season. It's also pretty much the only time either of us sets foot in a mall or shops at Neiman-Marcus, especially since we're now both devoted Internet shoppers!

Another thing my husband and I like to do is buy gifts for our house. We each choose a small gift that will make our home a nicer place to live. The idea is to find gifts that we'll both be able to use on a regular basis, especially if it's something the house needs. Last year, my gift for the house was an ice cream maker. Both my husband and I have enjoyed using the machine to make our own frozen creations. Other "house" gifts have included board games, a foot spa, new bedding, and cookware. I'm still trying to come up with ideas for this year's house gift, but I always have a good time coming up with new ideas.

I'm sure our Christmas traditions will change if my husband and I ever have kids. I doubt I'd want to take a small child to the Christmas display at Neiman Marcus! But for now, it's fun to look for new and interesting ornaments beyond the generic ones that are sold everywhere. And my husband and I both benefited from buying "house gifts" for our home, especially since our broke days in 2002!