As it is now mid-November and the holidays are looming I have been thinking about what is, and what is not, important to make a holiday special. We have created several holiday traditions in the past few years that we think reflect our "frugal" lifestyle, and in some cases a bit of a "greener" lifestyle.
One of these comes from my mom. When I was younger I never noticed it, but once I had kids I realised how much money you spend to wrap ALL those presents from Santa. My mom always kept the shirt boxes and Disney store boxes and gift bags. She carefully folded them all up and put them in the attic until it was time to wrap gifts again next year. Any parent will tell you the wrapping is EXPENSIVE. And have you ever looked at the curb the morning after Christmas? Families that normally put out one garbage can, can have 2 and 3 cans full and crushed boxes on top of it all. All going to fill up the landfills. I have taken my mother's tradition and keep all gift bags, shirt boxes and odd shaped boxes. After we open gifts I fold them flat and put them in the attic for next year. I always buy gift wrap at the after Christmas sales, but I haven't bought a box or gift bag in years.
The other two come from a real change in outlook on life and on money. I grew up in a house where on Christmas morning there were so many gifts you couldn't even walk into the living room. And then we still had to go to both sets of grandparents, where we would fill up my dad's truck with more gifts. It was all exciting but also overwhelming. As we have had to make financial choices we have also had to decide what was worth spending money on and what was more of a "want" than a "need"., and what we wanted to teach our children about gifts/money and the holidays.
We have opted to create traditions in our house that don't put so much focus on Christmas morning, but on the holiday sesaon.
Our first tradition, is "December Fridays"- which really are all the Fridays between Thanksgiving and New Years. Each Friday evening, starting the day after Thanksgiving, the kids recieve a gift. This gift is one that the whole family can enjoy. They love opening the gift and then knowing we have something fun to do that night. Past "December Friday" gifts have included: the DVD of the Polar Express with hot chocolate mix (we made hot chocolate and watched the movie together), a Build a Gingerbread house kit (everyone helps to make the house, take pictures with it and then eat it), new PJ's for the kids (which they put on and took blankets to the car and we drove around listening to Christmas music and looking at Christmas lights), a board game that the whole family could play. I think you get the idea. This spreads the "gifting" out over the month and allows it all to sink in and be enjoyed by the kids and the family.
Our second tradition, is more about putting value on the "giving" not just the "getting". In our house Santa still brings the "big gift" and few small ones but the rest of the gifts under the tree are From our family members. Once I have most of the gifts bought for the family I lay them all out on my bed. I have each child come into my room with their money (money saved from b-days, other holidays, chores, ect.). And they "shop" for the other people in our family and extended family. If my son was to come in and shop first, his gifts would be hidden away. And he would choose one or two of the gifts out of the "daddy" pile and pay $1 for each gift he bought. Then he looks at the Gigi pile and chooses one or two things to give her and pays for them ($1ea). He has to buys a gift for everyone on his list(even his sisters, Aunts, Uncles) and then I put it all in a bag and he can take it to his room to "hide" it. On another night- each child comes into my room and wraps all of his gifts and signs his/her name to the tags for each gift they bought. It makes the "giving" alot of fun, and having to pay some of thier own money to "buy" gifts also teaches them that the things we get/give cost money. On Christmas moring they are also excited to see Daddy or Mommy open the gift they "bought" for them, as well as excited to watch each other open gifts they have choosen for them. On Christmas we don't hear "What's for me?", or "Look what i got." we hear things like " Mommy open this, it's from ME!" or " Daddy open this first, I picked it out special."
Well those are just a few of our Christmas traditions. Please feel free to leave any comments. What are your traditions that reflect your family's values?
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