I’ve told you all before about how we handle Christmas gifts at the Myers house. We give our children 3 gifts each – but they’re not just chosen willy-nilly. Each gift has significance…and I spend a lot of time deciding what I’ll buy.
This has really cut down on the commercialism for us – along with the fact that we celebrate mostly with activities instead of presents.
Do you want to cut down on the craziness of Christmas morning? Is spending too much on gifts for your kids driving you to the poorhouse?
Maybe you should consider a 3-Gift Christmas. I’ll talk about how use this approach for our family and what each gift means over at Keeper of the Home.
Come and have a 3-Gift Christmas with us! And later in December, I’ll share with you what gifts I purchased for my kids. 🙂 I can do that until they get old enough to read. Ha!
Stacy, I have been doing the 3 gifts since my 18 yo was a baby I have 2 boys and 2 girls. It has made them so much more appreciative and less greedy. It cut down on my spending and made them choose something that they were really into so it didn’t get thrown into the back of the closet and forgotten. For birthdays I give them a choice of making a memory or having a party for the most part it has always been making a memory. We live in Atlanta GA so we have gone to puppet shows with a work shop after, the fox theater to see Phantom of the opera, The world of Coke, Childrens museums and other places. they get to purchase one gift from where we went and that is their “birthday” present usually under $10.00. I forgot to mention it was a family affair to go to the place of choice.
Stacy, I am doing your 3-gift idea for my daughter (15 mon) this year. And I am curious what you and your husband do for each other. Do you exchange at all? just stocking stuffers? or a set amount?
We do – based on the year. 🙂 We always do a stocking for each other because that’s my favorite part. Each year we set a price limit based on how we’ve done that year and how much extra we have….so some years we didn’t give anything at all. And we always make sure it’s something the other person has really wanted. 🙂
Hi Stacy,
We’ve used the 3-gift Christmas since 2004. It came about as a response to my spiritual growth in the Lord. I too researched the items, found photos, and speak of what they were used for. This is shared each year prior to passing out that particular gift to each of our 3 children. We then move to the next gift. It has been a wonderful addition to our celebration of our Lord and Savior. If 3 gifts were sufficient for Jesus, then certainly, 3 gifts with meaning are not only sufficient, but most beneficial to our children and disciples in training.
I appreciate your blog.
Most Sincerely,
Deidre
Romans 15:13
Excellent points, Deidre….excellent points.
Such a cute picture 🙂
🙂 She was sick that day, so that’s all I remember when I look at it. Can you tell? I can….
Hubby and I do this with each other, and we will with our baby next year as well. Our categories are slightly different, but still based on the three kings’ gifts.
Gold is the same – something really precious to the person
Frankincense – something that represents their passion (for us it is always books)
Myrrh – something useful (usually clothing)
I really like this way of doing things. We also celebrate St Nicholas Day (I grew up in Germany), and that is our spiritual gift. With our kids, we’re planning to focus on St Nicholas as a spiritual figure who wanted to share Christ with people so it fits well.
I just love that your passion is books. 🙂 One of mine too!
I like this idea. Christmas to me is a time to spend with my family and enjoy our traditions, but for so many people I know, it becomes about what you get. A lot of my family members are struggling with money, but they’re still spending a ton on presents for their kids and other family members because “that’s part of Christmas.” (Note that one child whose parents are literally going without food to buy gifts for is 2. She’d be happy with wrapping paper and the boxes from other kids’ toys!) I saw a thing on Pinterest the other day about getting your kids four gifts – something they want and something they need, something to wear and something to read. I really like that idea. They get gifts to celebrate that part of the holiday, but they’re not overwhelmed by presents, and no one has to go broke getting a mountain of gifts.
(On an unrelated note, my Christmas list includes underwear. My mom always buys me nicer ones that I’m willing to shell out for myself, and it makes her happy to be able to get me something she knows I need and will use. Win-win!)
I LOVE getting underwear! One year all I asked for was underwear for my birthday. LOL
Going off on a tangent– We named our parrot Myrrh because it is so fun to say and spell. He was one mean sun conure, but I loved his name.
LOL I like spelling it too! 🙂 I thought I was the only one!
I commented over at Keeper of the Home too, but I just wanted to tell you again how much I LOVE this idea! I told my husband about it yesterday and he thought it was great too. I mentioned in my other comment that we had already decided to do 3 gifts so this came at perfect timing for us! I love how God works like that!! Speaking of God, I thought I’d share with you that since my husband and I decided that we would use NO credit this year, God has been blessing in wonderful ways! I won a $50 Amazon card! And I bought (not with the Amazon card)my 11 year old son a great jungle survival knife for his birthday a couple weeks ago. Before he even used it, a plastic piece for the belt strap broke. I contacted the company and they said we could keep the knife (which is totally usable and the belt strap can be “rigged”) and they gave me a $34(the value of the knife) voucher to their store…which is just God!!
I love how God does things like that! 🙂
When my children were younger, I did the 3 gift plan too. Now that they are older and have children of their own, I only do one gift per and it’s normally something small in nature. I hope I have instilled in them the true meaning of Christmas and that presents aren’t neccessary to celebrate our Christ’s birth.
Keep up the good work Stacy, I enjoy reading your thoughts very much.
Fay
Faylee, I am SURE that you raised your children to know the meaning of Christmas. 🙂 Good job.
I really love this idea. My husband is really into Christmas gifts but I sometimes feel it can go a little overboard. We have a 1 year old and another on the way. I think this is an awesome idea for keeping things under control, and for giving a little extra meaning to the gifts we give. I’m really excited about this idea! Thank you 🙂
🙂 Great! I hope your husband loves it too!!
It was my husband’s family’s tradition. I loved it so we kept it.
🙂 Husbands are good to have around, aren’t they?
we sort of do the 3 gift Christmas and always have. We do the item to wear the night before and it is always a new pair of pajamas for them to wear to bed and open gifts the next morning with. Then we do something you want, something you need, something to wear (the pajamas), and something to read (either Spiritual or educational). It has brought great joy into our lives.
🙂 I love the pajamas idea!