Teach Your Child About the Gifts That Can't be Placed in a Box

Thanksgiving is finally over. It was nice to see people being thankful for what they have in November but the Christmas greediness starts with Black Friday. 

Society is trying to instill in our future generations that while gifts are nice during the Christmas season, the true "gift" is the people behind the gifts and are one of the blessings that we should be grateful for. We are trying to teach them that Christmas wouldn't happen at all if it weren't for Jesus' birth and the importance of His birth. 

However, what do we do at the end of the day that shows these values? People give the kids more stuff; ironically just after celebrating being grateful for the stuff they already have.

This year my kids won't be getting much because of the financial situation we are in. I've saved a few things that I have collected through the year that will be special gifts from Santa, but that will be the extent of our gifts. I've already informed them what their Christmas will look like and why. They shrugged and said, "OK, that's fine" and went back to what they were doing. I've been instilling the phrase, "That gift that _______ gave you would mean nothing compared to the gift of love that _________ gives you-- which is why they gave you the gift."

However, this year is a perfect platform to keep showing those ideals. I'm keeping the Thanksgiving gratitude theme going by continuing with this Christmas one: 

We put up this little tree on our front door and under it are gifts. Each child will label a gift once a day with "gifts" that are given to us every day that could never be placed in a box. These gifts are more precious than any tangible object. 

Here is a photo of our start: 

So I am challenging your family to start your own "special tree" and put the most precious gifts under it that you already have. 

Advent Calendar

Advent is here! So with Advent, brings the joy of preparing for Christmas. Two years ago, my mother in law brought over this little cardboard calendar that you could open numbered doors and inside would be one piece of chocolate. My kids loved this! However, splitting one piece of chocolate 4 ways was not working for my kids. So I scoured the internet (Hello Pintrest!) and came up with my own version. I ended up spending just above $50. 

You will need 
* 3'x4' piece of plywood
*2 1/2 yards of fabric
*quilters blocks
*ribbon
*3D Fabric Paint
*Stencil for the stocking
*staples
*hot glue with gun

This is what the end result looked like:

Merry Christmas!

Rethinking Christmas

Christmas used to be my favorite time of the year when I was a child. Gifts. Lots of gifts! However, as a child I was strongly misled to believe that gifts were the most important part of Christmas. My parents did the best they could to indulge their kids. I don't blame them. What parent doesn't want to give their child everything?

My goal is to turn that indulgences from tangible things into emotional and memorable. My kids may seem disappointed for a few key years especially when they get to compare what they got for Christmas  versus what some friends received. 

Our generation has a choice to make a difference. I don't want to figure out how I'm going to pay for a day that will end up costing me  $1,000 between gifts and food. According to http://americanresearchgroup.com/holiday/, American's will spend $854 on Christmas gifts in 2012. To me, that is crazy to take anywhere near that much money out of my family's budget just to make everybody feel "happy" for a day. No matter what I do or how much money I spend, what I get will make somebody feel inadequate. 

The first step is to include your kids in every step possible and explain over and over that Christmas is not about the gifts that we receive or give; it's about spending time with the people we love and gifts would mean nothing without the people that gave them. Then, let all the people in your life that normally receive gifts know that the Holiday Seasons will start being different for your family in an effort to teach your children a better meaning of Christmas and to be grateful for the things we already have. Who in the world would be able to argue with that logic???

Then include your kids in making everybody homemade gifts-- something that shows love by time and effort being put into investing into that person. Isn't that what we all want? Somebody to invest into us? Something more than picking something off of a shelf that we won't remember by the time the next Christmas rolls around. 

Pintrest is full of wonderful ideas to make the holidays more memorable for our children. Make memories, not expectations.