But I must make a confession.
I don’t love Christmas.
Now all you die-hard Christmas people can run me out of town with pitch forks.
I envy people who can get into the spirit of Christmas and who revel in all the preparations for the big day. There are a lot of aspects of Christmas that I do enjoy, however the parts that I don’t like seem to overshadow that good parts. My annoyance with Christmas starts the day after Thanksgiving, with black Friday. To me black Friday is consumerism at its very worse, people sitting in lines for hours to get the best deal on the latest junk. Anyway, I know a lot of people really like the hunt, but I just can’t stand it. This summer my irritation with Christmas was brought to a head when my own children started to tell me what Santa was going to bring to them. Not only was I irritated at their attitude, I was irritated by what I had created! Dadzoo and I started talking, we wanted to make Christmas more Christ focused in our home, but how does one do that when we are so entrenched in the worlds view of this Holy holiday.
This doesn’t mean we are giving up Santa all together, we are just letting the myth take more of a back seat. My children are getting some well thought out, Christ centered gifts, from their Father and I, instead of a ton of toys from Santa. Our children used some of their own spending money and donated it to charities that use the money to help people in our own neighborhood with things like utility bills and groceries. Our children are not exchanging gifts, but service to each other.
We do the advent wreath and advent calendar. Every year that *B* and I have been together, we've donated to Heifer International. I also try to do at least one of the service opportunities at work. I think a big part of what we're doing to put Christ back in Christmas is actually going to church for once in my life. *B* goes now, and enjoys it, too.
Last year was our first pare-back Christmas. Things were getting out of control with all the junk we were buying, stuff the kids didn't even use or would break right away. Last year we became aware of several families in our neighborhood who were experiencing really difficult times, so we told the kids they would be getting less and my hubby and I would not be getting gifts ourselves, so that the money we saved could help our friends have food and heat. It was a really special Christmas for us. We plan to do that again this year.
It is still so hard though to fight that pull to buy a lot of stuff for gifts. Our kids have also begun believing that whatever they put on their list will be wrapped under the tree on Christmas morning. It's such a struggle because you want it to be a happy day for them, you don't want them to be disappointed, but at the same time you want them to understand that this day is about the Savior, not about stuff. And we don't want them becoming spoiled and self-centered.
*sigh*
We have a giving tree (a tree drawn on paper) and we write the names of people or places we give things or service to. The goal every year will be to have more on it than the previous year. Our December is less schooling too as we focus on giving. Every night in December I read a Christ centered Christmas story. With gifts we also budget way low for Christmas spending about $50 per person – this has made us really think about what is worth getting and having.
I have started to make every gift that I can, my girls and stamp calendars for my mom & sisters from them. I think that making something for someone, for mr anyway, is far more giving than the amount of money spent. I have always loved Christmas but my parents always did a great job of keeping it in check! :). Oh and Santa only fills stockings at our house and of Course new slippers! They get handmade Christmas jammies on dec 1st from mom.
One of the traditions that my parents started was having a Birthday party for Jesus. It was never on Christmas Eve but usually just before Christmas. That day we cleaned the house as if the Savior were coming. We were supposed to treat each other more kindly than we would on a normal day.
For dinner we would all dress up in our Sunday best and have dinner by candlelight. The dinner was usually something special like steak and shrimp–things we normally didn't have.
After dinner we went caroling and took gifts to our neighbors. After returning home and as we ate the "birthday" cake, we wrote down the goals we wanted to accomplish for the coming year. These were wrapped up and placed under the Christmas tree as our gift to Christ. On Christmas it was the last present we opened and we always talked about the true meaning of Christmas.
I love this tradition. It has always helped me to remember what the season is really all about.
Good for you, Aimee. It's so good to hear of a family trying to teach their children the real meaning of Christmas and curbing the selfishness we've all fallen into. You will be creating meaningful traditions and memories for your children.
Aimee–I am so proud of you and 'dadzoo'!! You are giving your children the best kind of Christmas they could have–one centered on Christ! I hope more and more believers in Christ will start to see this same thing.
I love the non-commercial things about Christmas; hate the commercialism and the move to keep Christ out of Christmas!
Your post made me happy:)
Blessings,
Aimee
PS: I hate Black Friday too–especially when the rush for stuff seems more important than anything–including the safety of other people that are there!
One year my parents gave us a really nice gift, which at the time I didn't appreciate but looking back I wish I had… They got a nice little container for each of us and they were filled with 365 little pieces of paper. On each one was printed a scripture that they had taken from what they had hilighted in their own scriptures and found meaningful. It was so we could pull one out to read each day. I can't imagine how long it took them to cut them up now that I think of it…