I grew up with big Christmas mornings. There were always a lot of gifts from our parents and family, and Santa always brought a big ticket item and stockings filled to the brim with goodies and small surprises. I loved having a big Christmas, and now that our family is growing I have pondered on how we can still enjoy a big Christmas without getting carried away because it is important to us to keep the amount of 'stuff' that comes into our home to a minimum.
I recently heard of a cool Christmas tradition that we might implement as a family.
It is really simple. Each person gets four gifts during Christmas, and each gift corresponds to a pre-set category, though I am thinking of adding a fifth category. Here they are:
1. Something you NEED
2. Something you WANT
3. Something you READ
4. Something you WEAR
And I think I will add:
5. Something HOMEMADE
I think this is such a clever idea as it really makes you think hard about meaningful gifts and keeps you, the parent or main gift giver in your home, from getting carried away. Santa Clause of course gets to bring gifts and fill the stockings, and there will always be the gifts from extended family to add beneath the tree, resulting in what I imagine would be a very big, yet meaningful Christmas morning.
What are your family Christmas traditions? There are a lot of traditions out there and I would love to hear what you do to celebrate the season.
Tin
4 comments:
The big Christmas production of gathering around the tree with stockings and presents gets everyone plenty hungry, so we have a tradition of making our own sausage, egg, and cheese McMuffins. SOOO good and a warm breakfast on Christmas morning is fantastic. It's also amazing the way the saltiness of the breakfast works with the sweetness of the candies we've all probably had from our stockings already. :)
That is actually a GREAT idea I think I might steal. Our traditions? Eat tamales until we can't move.
We are planning to start a 3 gift tradition this year. Something fun, something practical, and something spiritual. Santa gifts and stockings are separate from this...and I have been thinking I'd like to get them a book every year. So, in the end, it sounds a LOT like your 5 gift plan. (But without the homemade.)
I also like to have an advent calendar. This year, I'm making a paper one for my young women--and I'm going to make an extra for myself. You add one element per day to a nativity scene. There's a scripture to go with each element. I hope it turns out!
That reminds me of something my mom tried to do, but never really did. :) Since Jesus got three gifts, each person gets three gifts Myrrh= something for your mind, Frankincense= something fun, Gold=something that is a garment.
My family always eats cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I've also heard a great tradition I want to try this year where on Christmas Eve you eat a Shepherd's Meal like the shepherd's would have eaten in Jesus day. :) Christmas traditions are fun, I could list a whole ton of them I love...
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