I had no idea the stir I would create with yesterday's post. I hope no one was offended- I just had a lot on my heart and mind to share. I received so many encouraging messages via blogspot, Facebook, and email- thank you for supporting my crazy ideas about the way I'm raising my family!! I hope today's missive will be as thought-provoking :-)
On the third day of Christmas, God blessed me with a challenge for our gift-giving,
peace about the fat man in a red suit...
and a sweet party with new and old friends!
For the past several years I have struggled with the excess of gifts that Christmas has created in our family. This is a three tiered issue for me, in no particular order...
- I am annoyed by the expectation that my kids seem to have that they will receive a bountiful spread come Christmas morning. I fully admit that I am the genesis of the problem, and yes, even the perpetuator, however I have made a concious effort to scale back over the past few years. In our defense, we rarely buy them things other than birthdays and Christmas, but we still need to practice more restraint...
- Our home has more toys than some third world countries. When Aaron and I got married, we literally were combining two grown-up size houses into one. We did a pretty good job of paring down our belongings- it's our kids that haven't. It certainly doesn't help that my oldest has a mind like a steel trap. I was recently busted trying to throw away a fast food toy. "But Mom," he wailed- you'd think I was pitching Faberge eggs- "I got that at the Burger King at the Atlanta airport in 2008. It was after my first airplane ride with Laura & Martin. It's so special to me! You CAN'T throw it out!!" I need to do a better job culling toys (broken ones, especially) but most of our toys have such great memories, either of the people that gave them to us, or of them playing with them. I know, I know- take a picture and move on....
- The financial aspect of our gift-giving has become overwhelming. The older they get, the more expensive the desired items are. This, of course, just gets worse- have YOU priced 257 Wetherby Magnums or diamond solitaire earrings lately? Seriously, $30 will get a pretty impressive haul for a 2 year old- that doesn't cover the stocking requests of the big boys!
I started by talking to my oldest about the idea of gift giving. I asked him why we gave gifts to each other at Christmas. I expected the Sunday School answer regarding the Wise Men, but he blew me away with this one... "Because of the gift God gave us. Actually, He gave us a lot of gifts, but the big ones were salvation and the Holy Spirit." If you know my son, you know that the word "actually" was said in his most Holy Homeschooling voice.
A few days after this conversation, I stumbled across an article that, if put into practice, could revolutionize Christmas around the Bost Homestead. It tackled the idea of just giving three gifts, AND correlating them to the gifts the Magi brought Jesus. Here's a link if you want more information:
http://www.crosswalk.com/homeschool/11642237/
I think a $15-20 stocking from Santa could dovetail well with this if your family practices that tradition.
Granted, I only read this AFTER a few trips to Target, but it has given us something to plan for next year.
My hope is that it will make our children more introspective and thoughtful when selecting their "gold" gift, and my prayer is that our Christmas morning will focus more on the bounty He has given us than the bounty we've bought for one another.
Suzanne's family does that as well. We tried to scale back to four things but unfortunately I've let it become four categories. Something to wear, something to read, something you want and something you need.
ReplyDeleteNext year WILL be different and we'll scale back even more to the three gift idea. I love it. I'm hoping for a more Christ centered Christmas all around next year! This year the commercialism has really been tearing me up.