Three Gifts

Many people get overwhelmed with gift buying during the Christmas season.

A dear woman shared with me (and some other moms) how she handles gift-giving for her five children.

They get three gifts.

Now, before I launch into this any further, I want to say this:
I don't care how much you spend on your child(ren) for Christmas.

I see/hear so many parents trying to "out-do" how much they don't do for their kids at Christmas.
"Oh, we don't give our kids hardly anything..."
"We only volunteer at a soup kitchen for Christmas.  NO gifts."
etc, etc.

Again, I don't care how much you spend!  It's not up to me!  That's up to you as a family.  It's not my business what you spend or don't spend!
Whew!  What a relief.

Also, if you volunteer instead of gifts, good for you!  But don't make others feel selfish for giving gifts to their children.  We do it in honor of the the Greatest Gift.

I think that gifts should be meaningful.

What this mom told me (us) was that she gives her children Three Gifts: one for their body, one for their mind, and the other for their spirit.
Body, Mind, and Spirit.

Let me show you what that looks like for one of our kids.
I have to pick one who can't read because my bigger kids all read my blog...so I'll do Ruby.

For her body, I bought her a pair of fuzzy pink pajamas.  These will keep her warm this winter in our drafty house.
I will package that up together with the little cup I found that has her name on it and a matching bowl for the cereal that nourishes her body in the mornings.
For her mind, I bought her some lacing puzzles.  These will help with her fine motor skills and give her something to keep her busy during school time.
For her spirit, I bought her some darling little cowgirl boots when they were on sale at Target this fall.  She loves to dress up and wants to be like all the bigger kids who wear cowboy boots.

Obviously, were you to implement this within your family, it would look quite different.  Different budgets allow for different gifts.  Different children have different needs for their bodies, minds and spirits.

I needed to do this more for my own sake than for my kids'.
I hear many people talk about how their kids make atrocious statements after opening gifts (ie, "that's it?" or "Is this all I get?") Praise God, I have never encountered such a thing.  My children have always been very gracious about what we've given them.
It was me who was finding all kinds of little "perfect" gifts for them and wanting so much to give them these things.  This helped me to focus my thoughts and look for something specific and to fulfill a need that they have.

I would love for you to share your thoughts on how your families handle gift-giving!