By Melissa Grant
Ho ho ho!
The festive season has arrived. It’s a time for living and a time for giving.
However, the notion of giving at Christmas means different things to different people and there are some who have the capacity to give more than others.
I’m reminded of this each year when I read the numerous, and predictable, stories about parents splurging on Christmas gifts for their children.
This year it’s the Aussie mum who estimates she has spent $1400 on presents for her three-year-old daughter after buying the first gifts at a sale in June.
The response on social media, like these types of stories, are predictable.
Rightly – or wrongly – people are horrified someone could spend that much on their child for Christmas. It sends the wrong message as the kids will associate Christmas with the number of gifts received.
It doesn’t teach them about the value of money. What will less fortunate kids think if they see another child receive so much? The criticisms go on …
I’m not here to judge. Although I will say I wish I was as organised (I haven’t even started Christmas shopping yet) and I would also love to have that much spare cash to spend on gifts.
The reality is that my children are young (three and one) so after a while they probably won’t even be able to remember what they received for Christmas.
Instead of focusing on gifts, I’ve been putting more emphasis on creating Christmas traditions. By this I mean the things our kids can look forward to at Christmas time (other than presents). Some lovely traditions we have already started include:
- Christmas books: Each festive season we add to our collection of Christmas themed books. So far we’ve got Bluey Verandah Santa, a couple of Peppa Pig Christmas books, Excuse Me Santa! and a few others.
- Letters to Santa: This year was our first year of writing to Santa and after discovering my three-year-old’s wish list we will be doing it every year! She wants a sandpit (messy but OK), dog (already have one), cat (the dog we have would try to eat it for Christmas lunch), fox (no idea) and a toy Bingo (she already has Bluey).
- Christmas lights: My daughter is now old enough to stay up and enjoy a tour of houses adorned with impressive amounts of Christmas lights. Seeing her face light up at the displays is just magical!
- Advent calendar: This one is a bit commercial, but our daughter loves chocolate and numbers so she really gets into the countdown.
- Giving to others: As I said earlier, Christmas is the time for giving so I’m planning to get my daughter involved in making some gifts this season.
However, one tradition I’m yet to embrace is Elf on the Shelf. For those unfamiliar, the elf watches the children and flies to the North Pole each night to report whether they were naughty or nice.
When the elf “returns” to the house it assumes a new position. Each year, my social media is flooded with pictures of weird looking elves doing weird things like sunbathing on the kitchen bench or taking a bath in the slow cooker.
For me, Christmas just isn’t the season to be giving time to a creepy looking elf – at least while I can avoid it!
