This year, the funds are tighter than usual. I would love to go out and buy fabulous presents for everyone and not worry about the money part. Who wouldn't? But, instead, I worry and fret about the gift giving and then compromise trying to the best that I can for the budget that I have. We have a large extended family and a small Christmas budget so the money is stretched thin. Often, Ryan and I forgo giving each other presents in favor of better gifts for the kids. I am sure there are a lot of people that do this.
Anyway, in my effort to simplify the holidays even further this year, I have been thinking of the feeling of Christmas. What does it mean to me and my family? The important parts for me are faith, family, friends and traditions. Starting with family, I wrote a list of what Christmas meant to me and then interviewed my kids. Jake said that he thought of snow, Santa, presents and giving presents and being good for presents (OK - presents are VERY important to him), playing in the snow and having hot chocolate. Mia was a little less verbal. She said Santa bringing her Baby Alive ( or Baby A-lie as she calls it), making cookies, seeing Santa at the mall, baby kittens (huh?), and gooey (double huh?).
Asking them this, I can see what is important to them and the glaring fact that faith is missing from their list. Granted, they are young and LOVE presents. This year, in effort to bring the spirit and faith back into the holiday, I am going to do a scripture countdown so that we might learn a bit more about the Savior. Reading and talking about the Savior on a daily basis will be good. So that's the first task for me. Make the countdown. I love a good advent calendar. I have got some ideas and there are tons of cute, crafty ideas on the Internet to make it cute. The cute part is mostly for me.
to be continued....
