Well, we ended up borrowing a neighbor's ladder so all in all, the repairs to the house cost about $60 for the chainsaw, shingles, and oil.

We still spent the $300 though and used it to buy Christmas presents for the kids. We went out to Target and wrote a list of all the things they wanted. Then we brought them home, looked over the list, and totaled it up so that it was within our budget.

Then DH went back to Target and got them the stuff. I was amazed at everything he got. I went and spent $300 earlier in the month and didn't get half as much.

So the kids are done for Christmas.

I don't feel too bad about it all. Dad really loved the kids and would have wanted to spoil them. And for four kids, $300 isn't too bad. Grant it, if you count the other $300 - $74 when I returned some of it as punishment because they were bad... I'd say so far we've spent about $850 on Christmas (this includes my stand mixer) and we need to buy DH something for Christmas.

He wants tint on his car so thats probably what I'm going to get him. Then aside from that he just says he wants clothes and shoes.

So the amount we've spent on Christmas hasn't been terrible, its still less than last year so I'm glad.