Two to Kiss, Two to Love: Gifts for Twins

Christmas. What a wonderful time of year! When Christmas music starts playing on every radio station, when people are thinking of others, and when the world seems happier and brighter, my heart swells with joy! I, too, find myself feeling so anxious to give everything I have to everybody. I think of the people who have nothing to give and still give everything they have. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the good people in the world.

And I love even more watching the magical look children give when they open a present. One of my favorite things is surprising people with ANYTHING--Christmas is one whole day where you can surprise SOOOO many people with so many great gifts, and I LOVE it. But believe me when I say, there CAN be too much of a good thing. Last year, not only had I signed up with Usborne to sell their books (ya know, for the discount ;)) and had a starter kit full of books, I had also thrown a book party, and had received a gazillon free books from hosting it. Between the starter kit and my party, I had about 100 books. And I wrapped EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of them. Yup. Every single one. My husband told me I was crazy and the girls weren't going to like it as much as I liked it. But for real? What kid wouldn't like a million presents on Christmas? Unfortunately, he was right. My twins were 1.5 years old, and my older daughter was almost 3.5 years old. They wanted to open one gift, and play with it. They could care less how many gifts there were. And I just wanted them to open a gift, see it, be excited, and go to the next. But nope, that is NOT how it worked. "Open one, then play with it" was their motto. So this year, I've tried SUPER hard to make sure there are only a few gifts, and I know I still went overboard. I'm a little worried that they won't get through them all in a timely manner (#firstworldproblems), but that's okay! Maybe Christmas magic will last all day long instead of just for a short time in the morning, and that's okay with me! The new problem I'm running into is my twins grew up and now they have very specific likes and dislikes; they are definitely two separate people versus "the twins." When they were babies, friends and family would send gifts--one to my older daughter, and one to the twins. But, for me, I always felt bad that I wasn't treating them like two individual people, so I'd try pretty hard to make sure they each got a separate thing, but also knowing they would both play with it. Because of this, their Amazon wishlist is combined, and anything on it suited both of them. Getting them one bigger gift was sometimes better, and more fun, than two separate gifts anyway. However, this year is the first year I've ever thought "Hey, I should probably split their wishlists up." One twin loves horses, the other twin loves babies and blankies. One twin loves toys with lights and music; the other twin loves toys with little parts that she can drag around everywhere--like the little cakes in her tea set. For Christmas this year, one twin asked for coloring materials, and the other asked for a Trolls Playdoh set. I really can't believe they are already at an age to have such specific opinions. So what do you do mamas? Do you keep separate lists for each of them, or do you group them together as "the twins"? What do you prefer your friends and family do? I want to hear all of your advice below! My sister-in-law has a set of twins, and she has always kept their wishlist as one. She said, "I buy them separate things but they receive a lot of group gifts--no point in buying two of anything unless it's a bike or something. Sharing is caring. And they get more when they get a group gift." And I think it totally depends on if they have siblings or not. Twins have a special perk of being the exact same age, so a group gift works well for them. But maybe a group gift doesn't work as well for all of your children. So take advantage of that for your twins, right?! Plus, having less stuff in your house is a major win.

No matter what, do what works for you and enjoy the magic of the holiday season! Isn't it so great that we are all out there giving our hearts out and lighting the world with happiness? I just love it.