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.

Thankful Dinnerware for the Family

Like most parents, I want my children to be grateful for what they have in their lives. We are always together for at least one meal a day and it is my goal this month to make those together meals more meaningful in the time leading up to Thanksgiving. Showing my thankfulness on Facebook is great, but I think my kids are the one that needs to see more than anybody that their mom is grateful and content. 

So while I was at MOPS today, I was struck with a bit of inspiration. On my way home, I stopped at Fred Meyers and got 6 inexpensive beige fabric napkins (the ended up being around $1.30 each). At home I have lots of colorful Sharpies and I printed out some leaf stencils from www.craftjr.com (free).

The photo below is what I crafted in just an hour. My family will write down their thanks at our family meal and we can go around and discuss what and why we wrote. That's the plan. Let's see how well that goes. :)

What are some creative ways that you and your family express thankfulness?