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What a SUPER idea. Way Cooler and I have always down-played the commercial aspect of Christmas, mainly because we are super cheap. However, now that we have kids, it has become even more important to focus on the true meaning of Christmas.
So, Happy Geek what DO you do to keep Christ in Christmas? (Cue cheesey music)
So glad you asked.
The jolly fat guy? We pretty much ignore him. Our kids will be the ones ruining Christmas for all their little friends. For that, I apologize in advance.
The boys get 2 gifts from us. Neither are big. They also get stockings which will contain crayons, underwear, toothbrushes and an orange or two. Yep, we rock. They may not think so in a year or two however.
We exchange names in my extended family. This year my I have my awesome sister's name. I asked what they wanted. They want a goat. More than happy to oblige.
We will be doing the Jesse tree this year. I learned about this last year from Shannon and was thrilled. Growing up in a decidedly non-litergical background, I had never even heard of such a thing. I cannot wait to make it an important tradition in our house. I will be posting picture of all our ornaments later.
We ask for gifts that are not material. My amazing M-I-L gives us a zoo pass every year. I cannot count the number of picnics and outings we have had there this year. It has given us a great deal of family fun and we are VERY grateful. I am not totally grateful that my kids are now into snakes, but it's an issue I'll work on.
I am making Way Cooler's gift. Stop laughing. It's NOT A CRAFT. Which is a very good thing. When you see the Jesse tree ornaments you'll know why.
So, there you have it, some of the stuff we do to buy less and be more.
How about you?
11 comments:
WOW. I love your ideas. I've been think think thinking on this a lot lately. I love the video, I've seen it here and there and think it rocks the Christmas party.
I want Christmas for us to be more about the things we do together than the gifts. A friend and her family (kids are a bit older) have a sleep under the tree night every year. It's just their family and they play games, no TV or video games, BOARD games. And they eat snacks and just hang out together. Then they pass out in their sleeping bags like they're camping, even mom and dad. I love that.
I love you H.G. You are so smart & wonderful. Do want to see way-cooler's gift or is it something you don't show in public
your kids papa
Our kids get ONE gift. ONE! That's all they need. We go to church, have a family dinner. My parents are buying them ONE gift for all of them to share. ONE. Honestly, it kind of makes me sick to see kids get twenty gifts each. It's crazy. It teaches them to be greedy and to NEVER be satisfied with what they have.
Oh, and our kids don't "do" santa either. Never have. We try to tell them to be quiet about it to their friends....:-) You should see the looks we get in the store when someone asks them what they think Santa will bring them and they say, "Santa doesn't exist. But Mom and Dad will get us a present." Dirty looks.....:-)
PS- I got my hubby a board game for Christmas. Shhhh....don't tell.
You may have seen that I've had Advent Conspiracy up on my blog for about a month now. Our church is very active. We have always lived this way so it wasn't a big change, but we do stretch our dollars to donate MORE and not buy "stuff". We can SOLVE the world's water crisis. That is an amazing thought.
I love the idea of the Jesse tree, but don't have time to make one and won't buy one (see 1st paragraph!).... Anyone want to make me one as a gift?? ;)
Oh yeah, and as I revealed a week ago, my son has already told his class the "truth" regarding Santa. Great.
I couldn't bring myself to lie to my kids about Santa, so they've known about a wonderful man named St. Nicholas that died a long time ago, that "santa" is fashioned after.
They also know that the reason we exchange gifts in in memory of the greatest gift ever received, Jesus Christ. We don't have cable, so we skip the majority of the 'I want that' months before Christmas, and their favorite decoration (next to their 'baby's first Christmas ornaments) is the nativity set. We are so very blessed!!
P.S. Last year the kids chose something to buy for their Grandma from the world vision Christmas catalog (much better than the wish book!!) This magazine tells about the struggles of families and demonstrates that even with a small amount of money (they helped pay), you can help change the world. The kids loved it and chose to purchase two bunnies for a third world family.
I love so many of these ideas. You and Way Cooler really are WAY COOL.
Hey, there's a little bloggy award for you on my blog!
Thanks, I liked the video and I'd never seen it before.
We do Santa at our house because I have magical memories from my own childhood, but he brings one gift for everyone and they get one from us. And that's it. And they understand why we even do gifts. A large nativity is the focus, and baby Jesus appears on Christmas morning. The kids get as excited about that as they do the gifts, so I love it.
Thanks for the video. That ROCKED. It's very well done.
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