Nov

27

Countdown to Christmas

Posted by jesstrump

November 27, 2006 |

gift_giving_girl150.jpgHow many days until Christmas?  I bet if you have kids, especially school aged, you could tell me without even looking at the calendar.  This is actually the first year that I finished most of my shopping before Thanksgiving!I was with my husband’s family for Thanksgiving and everyone was talking about how much shopping they had left.  There was even a big shopping center that was opening at midnight on Thanksgiving for those who wanted to start early.  If you went in your p.j.’s you even got an extra 10% off!  I have to admit that I did not join in on that adventure.  My sister-in-law was telling me she had a whopping 21 gifts to buy this year and she was only about 1/3 of the way finished.  Whoa!  That is too much!

My husband and I have been really trying to cut-down on the gift-giving hype of Christmas.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to buy for others but things have really gotten out of hand with expectations, our growing family, and our budget!  We want to find a way to get back to the basics of Christmas such as celebrating the birth of Jesus, being with family, and even helping the less fortunate.  What are some ways to get the whole family involved in doing this, 2 and 4 year olds included?  Here are a couple of my ideas:

  • If you participate in a gift exchange with a large extended family try drawing names.  We put everyone’s name in a bowl and pick one out for each person in my immediate family.  This way we are only buying 4 gifts.  And to simplify even more we are having the children make their gifts for the gift exchange.  There are so many great ideas for homemade gifts that kids can make and this Christmas site shows different ones from toddler to high school age.
  • Start if you haven’t already to instill in your children why we celebrate Christmas.  Make it a tradition to read in the Bible about the birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. 
  • There are many different ways to help the needy at Christmas time.  One great way I have found is through Samaritan’s Purse.  This is especially great for older kids who receive an allowance or other form of income.  You can go through their catalog and find many different ways to give to the poor from a donation of 4 dollars to provide milk and nutrition projects, a donation of 15 dollars for education and literacy projects, and much more.  Kids can flip through the catalog and decide how they can help.

These are just a few ways to try to cut down on the unnecessary stresses of Christmas and to bring it back to what it was meant to be.  I’m working on a list of creative Christmas gifts for an upcoming post so stay tuned!


Comments

1 Comment so far

  1. Noteworthy Network Posts at Content Quake on November 28, 2006 3:11 pm

    […] Mommy Babble - has some great alternative Christmas ideas. […]

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