Me Me Me.

It’s that time of year again. My kids are busy making lists of all possible toy combinations. Dreaming about what a certain jolly old elf will bring them. They’ve started early begging to make a gingerbread house, insisting on hanging ALL the Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving. (Doesn’t much help that stores have been playing Jingle Bells for 2 months now!)

Makes me want to hit pause on the giant DVD player called life.
Then slowly rewind it back a few weeks.

What if we took a step back this year and really thought about why we even have Christmas, why we spread it out for nearly 2 months, and why children have come to expect more than an orange and a trinket in a carefully hung stocking?

I don’t propose to go all fundamental and take Christmas away from anyone, least of all my own kids. And I love traditions that bring my family closer during the holiday season. I guess that’s it isn’t it? What brings your family closer? And what… well… turns your kids into mini devils demanding more than you ever dreamed of as a kid, much less what your parents dreamed of!?

I’m making an effort this year to help my kids find the kind of joy in the season that doesn’t come from ogling the toy catalog, or from unwrapping paper and strings, or all the bells and whistles on their new gadgets.  I’m talking about that old fashioned thing called GIVING.

First, I sat down my two oldest kids. They are 10 and 13 so they both understand the Santa thing. I asked them if they wanted to be in on the stocking stuffing? Absolutely, they both agreed! We decided they will each be in charge of filling mom and dad’s stockings this year.

What will you put in them? And they were off and running, planning and scheming the best items to fit in a small space.  How will you pay for it? They each have a bit of allowance and know they will have 2 or 3 more weeks to save up.  We talked about an appropriate budget and what they would need to do to make it work. They decided they could possibly borrow from January’s allowance or work extra jobs shoveling snow or babysitting.

Also I suggested maybe this year we could try out a sibling gift exchange with all three kids. Instead of store bought gifts, how about drawing names and then finding small acts of service to do for that person all month long? Sure! They thought it was a great idea! Does it have to a be a secret who you have? We’ll have to see how it goes!

While we were spending time focusing on others it was a great opportunity to talk about ways our whole family could give service during the holidays. I gave the kids a chance to help come up with some suggestions.

Here are a few of their ideas:

• Our school is having a canned food drive, can we donate?
• Can we gather up some of the toys we don’t play with and take them to the Foster Care Foundation Closet?
• We could secretly adopt an elderly woman from our church congregation and bring her small treats each Sunday!
• What if we asked our friends to donate a few dollars to the United Way or Red Cross instead of exchanging gifts with each other?
• Mom! I really want to donate my hair to Locks of Love… only it’s not long enough yet. Maybe I can do it in time for next Christmas!

What amazing ideas. What amazing kids. Maybe I don’t need to rewind our life after all? Maybe we all just need a little boost of You You You this season?

What will you be doing with your kids to enjoy the true meaning of the season?

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