This year, I am planning on making ‘hopefully’ 80% of my presents. Mainly because I want the person know how much they mean to me. Secondly, I don’t want to fall into the trap of buying everything and spending a fortune.
*it’s not really what Christmas is about anyways*
With this mindset, we have also decided to give each other (Emma, Travis and I) 3 presents this year for Christmas. And only 3. This was done with much thinking but really wasn’t a hard decision.
It’s pretty simple really.
1. Christmas is about Jesus. His birth and the celebration of who He is. We want our family to have a focus of why we are really celebrating this holiday. We read the birth of Jesus from the Bible to Emma at night time with some hot cocoa and snuggle time. The three of us. It’s a something we want her to catch onto. It’s about Him. Not the presents. (and we know she’s 3, to be excited about presents is normal. Heck I’m 30 and I still love opening presents!)
(adorable picture right?!)
2. Jesus got 3 presents. Not being legalistic with it, but we see it as an example to work from. If we decide that 5 gifts is better in the future then fine, but we really don’t want to distract from Jesus, our friends and family.
3. Our heart is for this season to be about giving. We are already talking about the different gifts we could give our friends and what they would like most. It’s about the relationships we have around us and taking time to show them how much we love them.
3. Just because we’re giving her 3 presents, this doesn’t limit any other family member. She will get many presents I’m sure from grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, but here in our home we want the presents for others to out number the ones for ourselves . 🙂
4. What a perfect time to teach Emma how rewarding it is to help those around us. We are taking a family from a blessing tree and will do our best to get them what they wrote down. Last year she loved giving the gifts we got to the mother of a family. This is a HUGE thing I want seeded in her. The gift of giving to those in need is an open door to sharing God’s love. (too cheesy? oh well.)
Brilliant. I think that’s awesome. We don’t do a ton of gifts either. I don’t like the meaning of Christmas getting lost among the gifts. It’s also awesome that you’re making a lot. So am I, so if you have any ideas. Especially for guys, that always seems harder. I’ve already got some locket necklaces, and filling them with pics for them;-)
I think this is a great idea!! And I really like the comparison of Jesus getting 3 gifts. =)