I know...I know...we haven't even celebrated Halloween yet and I am here talking about Christmas. The reason behind this is because I realized after having gone back and reviewing my blog posts I never got around to discussing the new family tradition that we adopted in preparation for Gen's first Christmas. We have decided to give only three--yes you heard me THREE--gifts to each other and our child(ren). Here is our reasoning behind this. Eric and I both grew up in families where there wasn't much emphasis placed on the real reason behind celebrating Christmas and that is CHRIST. I knew even before I was married that I wanted to change this--I think we as a society have comercialized Christmas into being all about presents--I wanted to make sure our child(ren) knew and understood why we celebrated such a special time of year. I came across a blog that mentioned that they went by the three gifts of Christmas based upon the three gifts the wise men gave to Jesus on the night of his birth. I loved the idea because a) it makes the gifts actually meaningful b) you aren't buying your child everything under the sun and c) you get to share with your child the beautiful birth of Jesus the Christ and how special the gifts that were given to him and how they had such great meaning. I tweaked how our gifts were categorized based on different people's interpretation (and mine as well) of the gifts but they go as follows:
Gold-a gift of wonder (or as I interpret it a gift of fun such as toys)
Frankincense-a gift of meaning (something that is special and meaningful such as a book or quilt or memory book)
Myrrh-a gift of usefulness (i.e. clothing, new shoes, new coat)
Gen will most likely be getting a playset for the back yard as her gift of Gold and more than likely clothes for her gift of Myrrh but we will be thinking really hard about her Frankincense gift. Oh and if you were wondering yes we will still be exchanging gifts with family and friends so this only applies to our little family of three. Gen will still be able to get gifts from her grandparents and others but we feel like we should make it a priority to put CHRIST back into CHRISTmas for us and our child(ren).
Good for you! We started out doing something very similar, and while we still stick to 3 gifts we now do 1 from Santa, 1 from parents and 1 from a sibling. The premise is still the same though, they only open 3 gifts on Christmas day (gifts from grandparents, etc aren't opened on Christmas) to represent the gifts of the 3 wise men. This is our 6th Christmas doing this, and my favorite thing about it is that it really makes you think about what you are buying. I see so many parents going crazy buying anything that is on sale this time of year. My kids know that they can only ask for 1 gift, so they really put thought into it and don't make a huge list of wants. I know that I only get to select one gift for them, so I put a lot of thought into it as well.
ReplyDeleteHey sweet girl! Thank your for your sweet comment on my blog! I've really appreciated all the support and I always love your comments. You're darling and your thoughts on weight loss are super awesome. Thanks again!'
ReplyDeletesday
Hey! Sorry, I just keep posting comments on here cuz I don't know how else to respond to your comments on my blog :)
ReplyDeleteI'd LOVE TO HAVE Kday report on his feelings about adoption! That's a GREAT IDEA! I'll talk to him about it and have him try to post something soon!
Thanks
shannon
Again, here I am replying to your darling comment because I can't remember if you sent me your email address! Mine is sdayrunning@gmail.com, send me yours so i can reply back via email!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Your comment about the binki. You're so right to not worry about the binki! Honestly, have you ever met a fifteen year old with a binki fix? I swore I'd never be the mom with the kid in nursery at church with a binki. And I am, twice over between the boys. But who cares. When they turn three we'll do the same thing we did with Layla. And hopefully they'll still nap like she does. But to me, it's not worth chancing them stopping their nap time, or making them miserable all day. Just put a plug in it and everyone is happy :)