Disclaimer... No offense to anyone who does not see Christmas this way. I like to use my blog as a personal journal and to encourage anyone. I do not judge you if you are purchasing 20+ gifts for your children. I just know that in this season, this is what is working for my family.
We're doing Christmas a little different this year.... Something that I never imagined that I would do. My name is Keisha and I am tired of stressing about Christmas. Tired of stressing about paying for all of the gifts. And frankly, I am tired of stressing out about making sure that my kids have as many gifts as so and so... This year, we are adopting the 4 Gift Rule.
I first heard of this a couple of years ago from a wise friend. I chewed on it that Christmas as I struggled to wrap the 10 gifts each for my kids on Christmas Eve. I strongly thought about it the following January when the credit card bills came marching in with their large minimum payment that was due.
However, it was not until I began reading " Raising Grateful Kids in An Entitled World" by Kristen Welch that I decided that we were going to "swim upstream" and only give our children 4 gifts each. For years, I had wanted my kids to be happy, proud of all of their abundance of gifts, but it was stressing my husband and I out keeping up with it. It was not worth it. I was not doing my children any favors by getting them every gift that they wanted. I was not teaching them the value of saving for something that they really wanted. I also was not spending quality time listening and learning what my children really and truly wanted. I love the quote that Kristen says "The only thing that a child is entitled to is his parents love." All of the gifts are just extra things...
So far, I am a lot less stressed in the gift giving department. My husband and I will also be only getting 4 gifts from each other. The same 4 gifts that my children are getting. I have also loved truly figuring out what 4 gifts each person really and truly wants. My husband and I have also had a blast scouring the internet looking for deals and the perfect 4 gifts.
My children know that they are only receiving 4 gifts this year and yes, they are okay wit h it. It has also been nice having the tags on the gifts so that they know what is inside the package instead of having to be badgered to death with the hundreds of questions about each gift. But yet, they are still excited! After I wrote on my gift tags, I found gift tags with scripture regarding the 4 gifts here and I will definitely be using these tags next year!
We are still encouraging our children to resemble Christ in this season and to talk about Him and the true meaning of Christmas (Matthew 1:18-25). We are also encouraging our children to be servants of Christ and to show His love to others around us by paying it forward and sharing the good things that we have been given. I want to raise grateful children!
What ways are you celebrating the season? Share your comment below, like and share this post on social media for your opportunity to win Kristen's book "Raising Grateful Children in An Entitled World"! One lucky winner will be randomly chosen on Wednesday, 12/13!
We are doing things a little different this year to. I got my daughter one big toy and they rest of her gifts are little thing and the things she needs. Hope your Christmas is amazing thanks for sharing .
ReplyDeleteGood for you! We have always done things a little differentand have received a lot of negative feedback. We have always requested no toys since our kids would rather play basketball, swim or read books! Toys get played with for a few hours and then they are forgotten. Also we never use our credit cards, oy cash on hand. We get them sports equipement, clothes and educational materials. I typically bring them to florida to visit my parents so we do fun things there as a family.
ReplyDeleteKat Rushing