Let me start this off by saying how much I love Christmas. It is also my favourite holiday. Everything about it just rings my bell. I love the lights, I love the music, I love the Santa-suits, and I especially love the gift-giving.
Don’t even get me started on Christmas music! Any time of the year, my feel good music playlist is 80% filled with Christmas music!! (Much to my husband’s dismay) My love language is also GIFTS, so both the giving and the receiving fills my heart with joy.
Secret Santa Gifts
Over the last 5 years, we have decided to to Secret Santa’s in our family. We are a laaaaarge family, and that’s not even counting the kids! And although gift-giving is such a joy, it became such a schlep to buy a thoughtful and beautiful gifts for every single member, and we felt the meaning behind Christmas got lost in all the random gifts we gave just because everyone had to get a gift. So we started a Secret Santa type thing.
We each drew two names and could take our time to thoughtfully and carefully decide on gifts for just two people that would show how much we love each other. And then everyone got something for the littles. It was great fun.
But Something Changed
The last few months, I started thinking about a no-gift Christmas. It wasn’t a financial decision. (Although, let’s be honest; this is saving us sooooooooooo much!)
It took a while for me to talk about my idea with my husband, who, at the first mention of it, agreed wholeheartedly and asked if he could buy a Playstation “for the family” instead 😉
I knew something changed in me regarding gifts for Christmas. As much I love gifts, the gift part of Christmas has become such a exgaggerated and commercially driven thing that lost most of it’s meaning. Do you even know or remember why we give gifts to each other at Christmas? Or are we just doing it this way because that’s what people do at Christmas?
Do What feels Right
A while ago, someone told me how my idea of not ordering a drink at a restaurant if you’re not thirsty blew their minds. That we are just in this habit of – when you go to a restaurant, you sit down and you order a drink. It’s what we do. And you actually feel weird NOT ordering something to drink.
I guess that’s where I’m at at the moment. We decided to not buy gifts this year, because we want Christmas to feel like it felt like when we were little. Excitement over seeing all the family and aunts and uncles and cousins together – everyone taking the time to chat and play with one another, setting the table together in the prettiest way we could think of. NOT just spend 100’s of hours trying to buy gifts and then the whole day is focused on the presents and not about just taking this family time to love and show each other appreciation.
So this year we are eliminating the things that are not conducive to that feeling. Even if it feels weird, or is not what everyone else is doing. We’re doing what feels right to us.
May your Christmas season also be true to your heart, whatever that might look like, as long as it’s YOU.
Have you ever changed traditions in your family? I’d love to hear how you went about it and why you decided to change things up! Let me know in the comments!
All my love,
Simone
Hello
Ons doen al n paar jaar nie meer kers geskenke nie.. 1 ons het givers in die familie wat rerig tyd vat en n ordenklik dink oor elk een se geskenk en ander wat hangers gee. So het als oor die geskenke gegaan..
Nou vir n paar jaar vat ons die geld wat ons op geskenke sou spandeer en sit dit by mekaar.. Dan skenk ons dit .. een jaar het ons dit vir tears geskenk n ander jaar vir n baba huis..
Dan sal my ma dan nou Klein goedjies bymekaar sit in n kers kous .
So het kersfees weer lekker geword!!
Ek absoluut LOVE dit! Genius plan! Ons mag dalk net die idee steel vir volgende jaar!