The True Spirit of Christmas

For the past several years I've been thinking about this topic a lot. How can I teach my children how to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas without getting too caught up in the celebratory trappings and commercialism that comes along with it. I really think that there is a huge segment of America that celebrates the gift-giving more than the Savior. I don't want to feed into that or allow it to be too much a part of our celebration.

That said, I don't think gift-giving is bad. I enjoy it! I like thinking, choosing, and creating something special for those that I love.

But even though there is some symbolism behind the idea of gift-giving, I had to wonder...how would the Savior want his birthday to be celebrated?

What do you think? My best guess was service.

And if that's the case. How can I modify my Christmas celebration (and, should I?) to better celebrate the birth of the Savior?

Thoughts?

Driving home last night from Josh's parents' house I was pondering this idea. Definitely spending time with family was the highlight of our celebration. The food was good and the presents were fun - but it was being together that really *made* the holiday for me.

So here's what I thought.

What if, in our little family, we put the big gift focus on birthdays. Make birthdays something super special where the best gifts are given. For Christmas, plan on simple, more personalized gifts - gifts that you make yourself especially (which my kids do for each other and it is so wonderful to see). And then give the gift of service to our Lord. Maybe help serve at the community Christmas dinner or assemble hygiene kits for the Church or whatnot. Have a family service day as part of our Christmas celebration to truly honor the Savior. We do try to do a Christmas service project every year, but I want to expand that idea to a greater part of our celebration.

Sure there are going to be many trips to visit family on Christmas where I can't do everything I want my own way - and I'm perfectly fine with that. I'm not trying to be critical of other people because giving gifts is a very fun and exciting part of Christmas. I am not trying to end that. I would still plan on exchanging with extended family in the usual way. I'm just talking about our family's personal celebration and what my children expect from us in the way of gifts.

I'm still toying with and tweaking this idea in my mind, but I'd love some feedback.

I will say that I did love how our Christmas went. We stayed home Christmas Eve. We had a super yummy dinner, followed by our FHE on Christmas. In the morning we had stockings and gifts, and a special breakfast. Then we packed up and headed out and spent our afternoon at the grandparents. I thought it was nice to have our quiet family time AND the fun family time. Best of both worlds!

Opening PJs for Christmas Eve...from Grandma!

Brynne's Christmas PJs

Natalie's 1st Christmas...and first Christmas gift!



Stocking excitement! The kids set their alarm for 6am.
Next to Hannah are the crumbs from the cookies the kids left from Santa. And they left Rudolph a candy cane. How thoughtful! He enjoyed it tremendously.