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| photo courtesy of photobucket.com |
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| Our cuties opening their gifts last Christmas. |
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| Our Santa stockings |
Monday, November 28, 2011
Making It Meaningful: 3 Christmas Gifts and Santa Stockings
Today I'm going to share another way that our family tries to keep Jesus the focus at Christmas.
The first idea is something several friends shared with us that they do in their family. The tradition is to give 3 gifts to each child as a reminder that the wise men brought 3 gifts to Jesus. There's nothing spiritual about it, just another way to remember what the day is all about. I've seen this idea on other blogs as well and even saw someone who does a need, a want and a "spiritual" gift (something that will help them grow as a believer). My husband and I just do 3 of whatever we want to give them. We like to do "themes" like dvds or books or puzzles, etc. and get several items that are wrapped as a unit to make one present if the gifts are smaller. It's actually made the whole process a lot less stressful. We're not worried about who got more because everyone gets three packages!
The other thing we talked and talked and talked and talked some more about was the role Santa was going to play in our Christmas morning. (I KNOW that this can be a controversial issue and we do NOT think that we are right and everyone else is wrong.) Matt and I both grew up with him and had pleasant experiences with the fun tradition. BUT we both readily agreed that we cared a whole lot more about what Santa brought us than what our parents got us or Jesus' birth for that matter on Christmas morning. We THINK we came up with a solution that suits our family well (I guess time will tell! Our boys are still young). We decided to have their stockings be from Santa. I found some super cute ones from Hobby Lobby that we put their names on and on Christmas morning it's filled with fun things. This year they're both getting a Thomas train, a flashlight (they've become obsessed with these lately), an M&M-filled candy cane and maybe a few other small items that I know they'll enjoy. This tradition will hopefully serve to be a fun part of our Christmas morning without stealing the show.
Our main desire? We want Christ to be glorified in this season as we enjoy time together as a family and thank him for his incredible gift. What are some ways that your family does this?
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love this idea! My friend had the same idea of the three gifts and I told her we were adopting her plan this year. But I like the idea of still having stockings, so I think we'll do stockings too! Thanks for the ideas - they are helping me put my plan together!
ReplyDeleteWe do this the exact same way. We do a meaningful gift, a fun gift, and garment gift. We do stockings, too. We also make one gift for our children. For example, last year my husband built them a wooden barn. This year we built my daugther a doll house, my oldest son a log cabin, and my youngest son a farmer's market. We like to put a personal touch on the fourth gift. So, we do the three gifts for Jesus, stockings, and one bonus gift that we make. It really works for our family.
ReplyDeleteIn Mexico - they leave their shoes out with a little hay in them and in the morning they say the wisemen's camels ate the hay and the wisemen leave gifts as thanks. We still use stockings with bible verses on them (found at Fred's Dollar Store), but like to tell this tradition to our kids. They know the real Santa story (which relates to Jesus too) , but we make sure they know that all their gifts are from Mama and Daddy and from God who gave us the money to buy them.
ReplyDeleteWe do EXACTLY the same thing! Three gifts to represent the gifts given to Jesus and stockings from Santa. Several years ago, we got a book called "A Special Place For Santa" which we like and recommend...it really helped me with the decision to include Santa. We also are starting an advent calendar with scripture each day that I'm really excited about.
ReplyDeleteWe do the three gift thing for our two girls, too, but we call it JOY gifts. One for:
ReplyDeleteJ - Jesus (this year it will be the Jesus Storytime Bible for one because the one we have is, well, "well-loved" and the other will get a nativity set that they can interact with - undecided which one yet.)
O - Others (this is a gift they use when others come over, it's meant to be shared. We did a couple of games this year. Friends of ours have done craft kits or special coloring books and crayons, etc...)
Y - You (We haven't decided what it will be this year. Possibly special dolls, since they both love being little "mommies!")
This keeps us from going overboard, which is so easy to do! I can't walk through the toy section of a store without seeing things my girls would love or play with, and I'm so tempted to buy them! But when we know they're only getting "one" thing for themselves, it helps us to choose. And we hope this will help to keep their hearts turned to the real meaning of Christmas.
Everyone loves it when folks come together and share ideas.
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