A gift-less Christmas story
November 17, 2008
Instead of offering direct advice or tips, today I just want to share a story from my weekend that I think provides a great perspective on Christmas and gift buying. It seems like an appropriate story with the official start of the Christmas season just over a week away.
I was getting my hair cut Saturday. My stylist, Barb, and I were talking about the upcoming holidays. Both of us were saying how we intended to scale back on the gift buying this season.
I mentioned how my 4-year-old nephew — an only child, only grandchild, only nephew, etc. — has a crazy amount of toys. I told my nephew he has too many toys. He said, “Yea. Big people just buy them for me.”
Out of the mouths of babes … My nephew was so right. We (and by we, I mean me too) are buying him all of those toys. And what are we teaching him?
Barb said she tries to keep the Christmas gifts under control with her sons.
“We didn’t get Christmas presents when I was kid,” Barb told me.
I was stunned. “Oh, come on,” I said. “Surely you got some gifts.”
“No. We didn’t get any Christmas presents. We didn’t believe in Santa,” Bard said.
She explained that her parents grew up in
“That’s so sad,” I said.
“No,” she said. “We loved Christmas.”
Barb explained that on Christmas Eve, her mother baked a birthday cake for Jesus. Then her family would go to midnight mass and drive around and look at all of the Christmas lights. After church they would come home and have dinner. On Christmas Day her mother made a big dinner and they spent time together as a family.
Barb said she never felt cheated by not getting presents and she always knew what Christmas was really about.
That story blew me away. It made me think about all of the stress we go through to find the perfect Christmas presents for people. It made me really think about all the money we spend on the holidays (and the debt many of us accumulate) and what we teach kids about Christmas.
My family likely isn’t going to give up on giving gifts. I do love to give presents. But, it certainly makes the idea of scaling back seem even more reasonable and doable.
After all, if kids can love Christmas without a single gift, surely we can still love Christmas with a few less gifts.
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Nice post. Thanks for sharing