Christmas Gift Giving Tradition

Sawyer’s first Christmas! This is a pretty momentous Christmas for our family because it marks a transition. We are moving from our sweet married couple Christmas traditions to sharing our love for the season with children. Let’s be real, Christmas is about the kids. I don’t mean that in the traditional sense of but your children twenty presents, and hope they eventually understand the meaning of Christmas. Christmas is one of those yearly opportunities to imprint the beauty of the Gospel onto our children! The whole world is celebrating the birth of our savior even though many don’t even realize or acknowledge that aspect. Christmas is something we all remember from our childhood because life is made up of moment that shaped us. Daniel and I want Christmas to shape our children’s faith, and I’m almost certain that the least important aspect of that is presents.

We’ve decided from the start our kids will only get five gifts plus their stockings. I’ve always loved the tradition something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read, and something to give! This guarantees that our kids aren’t only expecting new toys, but shows them that the simplest things, like a winter coat, is truly a gift!

The main reason is that the anticipation of Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. Getting gifts can enhance that excitement, but it shouldn’t be dependent upon the gifts. I do love that gifts are a physical example of Jesus being the most precious gift to us. I long to explain to them that their toys are gifts that are temporary, but the gift of Jesus is eternal!

Another reason is that we aren’t going into debt over Christmas presents. Christmas is not an unexpected expense. It happens every year, and it will always be planned for in our budget. It’s much easier to buy tons of gifts if they’re going on a credit card with no immediate responsibility for the cost. We don’t have a set amount for each person that we will stick to every year, because it may change depending on our income.

I can remember showing off all my

Christmas presents to my friends. We all compared what we got, and obviously didn’t mention any jealousy but there definitely was some. Somehow a gift a friend received turns into the only thing you ever wanted, and makes your middle school life tragically terrible because you didn’t get it… even though you got a new phone, ugg boots, tons of new clothes, and a wii. Bless my mom’s heart for being so giving and loving, but I was a BRAT. Meanwhile who knows if some of the other kids in my class got gifts at all, and if they did were they donated from the local church or hand me downs from an older sibling? I don’t want our extravagant gift giving be the reason another child thinks they are less than, unimportant, or unloved. Praise Jesus that earthly wealth and belongings have no relation to His love for us!

Something to give is probably my favorite aspect! We will let the kids choose something to give for the Christmas season. At first we will do it for them, eventually we will help them choose, and then we will completely leave it up to them. Something to give could mean choosing a child off the tree at church to buy a Christmas gift for, buying a produce basket for our sponsored child’s family in Uganda, helping send a kid to

Young Life camp, or buying blankets for the animal shelter. God definitely reveals our passions and gifting through our giving rather than receiving.

I’ll be sharing a few gift ideas for each category for a 6-12 month old, but please keep in mind that Sawyer will get ONE thing from each category. Just because I think something is a great idea, doesn’t mean I have to buy it or that she has to have it.

I also wanted to share this amazing article about the four gift tradition that comes with some Printable Gift Tags .

Merry Christmas!