Why do some people buy loads of cheap presents instead of just one or two good ones? Do you do that or do you know someone who does?
Somewhere along the way it seems that a lot of people have gotten the idea that to make Christmas good you have to have lots and lots of presents. I think that gifts are great but I have to admit that I am disturbed by the concept that it is the presents that makes a holiday good.
When we raise our children we should be careful about the values and concepts that we pass on to them. In our house we stress family and togetherness and not the gifts. In fact I bought only two gifts for each of my daughters. No, I am not stingy nor is it because we cannot afford more. I just want for my family to value Christmas for something other than getting a lot of presents.
How many of us have seen a child open up a present and then toss it aside to open another and so on. Many times the child has so many gifts that it is hardly possible for them to really appreciate them.
One example is a person I know who bought a child in our family 25 $1.00 items from the Dollar Store. She spent $25 for a bunch of presents that were in truth crap; the kid got to open up a lot of colorful presents from his aunt but he didn’t like any of them or even want to play with them. In that case his mother decided to take all 25 back to the Dollar Store and exchange then for one good gift that he would actually want and enjoy.
This Christmas, and any other holidays coming up, think about getting a quality gift that the receiver will truly want and enjoy. Don’t get stuck on the idea that more is better and that you have to have a ton of gifts to make an occasion a happy one. The gifts should be nothing more than icing on the cake and not the reason for joy. Children need to realize that friends and family are the important things on any day and they cannot do that if the parents focus too much on the presents during the holidays. Gifts are great, but they should never be the primary reason for anticipating a special day like Christmas.