With Christmas quickly approaching, lots of people are bustling about, frantic and stressed about buying all the gifts for Christmas. The physical energy it requires is a lot but the mental exertion is what gets me. As families grow and extend, this process of gift giving can get pretty elaborate. How do you handle Christmas gifts?
My family grew up celebrating Christmas with my Dad's mother and his sister who had two children. We received a lot of gifts from Santa. My parents gave each of us kids numerous presents and we each received at least one nice gift from my aunt and uncle. My grandmother also gave us a few presents each. I was used to seeing a huge amount of presents under the tree on Christmas morning and this visual has been very hard for me to alter as an adult with only 2 children. My parents sometimes are with us on Christmas morning and then we go to my sister's house in the afternoon. With a small family of 4, our tree doesn't usually look that full, especially because my husband and I don't really buy much for each other. Over the years, as my husband and I have somewhat developed a minimalist mindset, I have wrestled with the issue of gifts at Christmas.
I have read enough articles and information to know that a lot of toys and stuff is not good for children. I have also seen first hand what happens to the toys after the novelty has worn off; they clutter the floor and are not played with and then get put in a storage box and nobody asks for them.
I am not a strong gift giver but I work really hard at it. I want the gift that I give to either my children, in-laws, siblings, etc. to be meaningful and be something they will use. It's hard to hit the nail on the head every time, especially when you are buying for people who already have everything they need. When you have to exert a lot of mental energy in giving a gift, and times it by 15 or so, it becomes a lot to handle.
I've seen a billion gift guides floating around and they have been really helpful but I find myself asking...is there a simpler approach to gift giving to those outside of your immediate family? And, how to deal with the guilt of not giving your children piles and piles of presents.
Recently, I have read about families who do Secret Santa with their extended family. Some families do a white elephant exchange. Others draw family names and give gifts to a specific extended family, while sometimes including a theme with it such as, family gifts, books, or experiences. I have a friend who does something similar to Secret Santa but the gift has to be a homemade gift and then the gift receiver sits in the special chair and the gift giver talks about why he or she loves the person they are giving the gift to.
I love hearing about what other people do at Christmas time and how they handle gift giving. Leave a comment below and share your Christmas gift giving traditions.
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