When we had our first daughter, we wanted very much to teach
our child that Christmas was about the Savior coming into the world, that gifts
were fun, but we didn’t want our kids to be greedy, so we limited the number of
gifts to two under the tree and Santa gave small things in the stockings.
This was fine, and there was nothing wrong with it at all.
One year was a particularly difficult year, and this method worked very well
for us. That year, our kids got a coloring book and some toys that we had in
the attic from our own childhoods or hand-me-down toys from their siblings,
rewrapped. We spent less than $30 on all gifts that year. To tell you the
truth, the kids didn’t even notice that the budget was tight and the gifts were
small. They likely don’t remember that we had a Christmas that was that tight.
What they do remember is that we go to church, we pray, we sing, we praise God
for the gift of His Son.
This year, we decided to give up our two gift rule. We aren’t
going to another rule either. Somewhere along the way, I realized how fun it is
to watch the kids open gifts. I don’t want to miss out on that. I might get my
daughter three books, but wrap each one separately, just because I want to
watch her unwrap them. I might wrap a package of batteries for someone to
unwrap. I might go ahead and give needed clothes for Christmas, something we
didn’t do before. We might laugh because Mom wrapped up socks for Christmas!
So this year, my kids won’t have an extravagant Christmas,
but they will have a few more gifts under the tree. Not because I want them to
grow up being greedy, but because I am really enjoying watching them grow up.
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