Note: This is a guest post from Craig Stephens of Retire Before Dad. During the past few Christmas seasons, my daughters performed in a local production of The Nutcracker. The show is a beloved annual tradition. The girls love to dance alongside their friends in front of our close-knit community. Their grandparents are enthusiastically present and engaged, always visiting when the kids have significant childhood events. We are grateful. One or both sets of grandparents have visited from out of town to see the performance every year. They travel several hours to watch the girls on stage for only about three minutes each. As someone who never knew any of his grandparents, watching my children interact with theirs has been one of the most gratifying experiences of parenthood. The most magical moment is when the girls emerge from backstage to receive hugs, flowers, and oversized rainbow lollipops from their grandparents. Every year, one or both grandmothers have commemorated the performance by also giving them each an intricate 15-inch nutcracker. We’ve accumulated quite a collection. My oldest daughter was overjoyed when she received her first years back. Like The Nutcracker’s protagonist, Clara, she’d never received such a beautiful and delicate Christmas decoration all her own. But each new nutcracker since the first has been less exciting. Last year, it was excessive. Each daughter received a large nutcracker from both grandmothers. One grandmother gave a nutcracker to my wife, and another to my 11-year-old son (because what 11-year-old boy doesn’t want a lifelong Christmas mantelpiece to celebrate his little sisters’ dance recital?). If you’re counting, that’s six big nutcrackers in one year, added to the previous years. At ages eight and ten, there are potentially several more The Nutcracker performances in their futures. Are they going to get more of these plus-sized nutcrackers every year? It sure seems like the perfect gift, girls dancing in The Nutcracker and all. But every new nutcracker makes the previous gifts less meaningful. All of this prompted me to ask my mother to please stop buying us nutcrackers. Our family isn’t all that into Christmas decorations. We are not nutcracker collectors. Most Christmas decorations we own are gifts from our mothers or their sisters. In their minds, we still don’t have enough. We pick a nice tree and hang ornaments, illuminate the house exterior, buy a wreath, and find places to display the nutcrackers and other decorations. But we don’t entertain during the holidays; we decorate for ourselves because it’s a tradition learned from our parents. The kids appreciate the exquisite quality of the nutcrackers for a brief moment each year. Then it’s back to the tree swing or Nintendo. The girls need reminders of which nutcrackers are theirs because there are so many now. Our house isn’t particularly design-savvy during the other 11 months. With three young and active kids, we still struggle to keep it clutter-free and tidy. Christmas decorations just sort of intercept dust particles for a month, then return to

Most teenagers have a casual relationship with money. They’ve spent their entire lives having someone else — usually their parents — pay for what they need and want. But budgeting for teens isn’t an easy subject for parents to teach. Teens still have to learn how to make a budget before they leave the nest. You’re likely to encounter various challenges when talking to teens about money, but there are positive ways to teach them […]

It’s already December! Here’s your monthly update that it’s time to set the budget for the new month. And, as usual, here are a few potential December expenses you won’t want to forget. The post FIVE DECEMBER BUDGET EXPENSES YOU DON’T WANT TO FORGET appeared first on a life on a dime.