Reading Terry's blog this morning inspired me to write about our Christmas experience this year.
Financially things have been really rough since I haven't been working. It's caused us to make some changes in places that we would normally splurge. Christmas is one of those.
I get that from my parents. Christmas morning we always woke with the most amazing amount of gifts under the tree. The sight was unbelievable. Even as I have grown up and had children of my own, they couldn't wait to go to Grandma's house to see just how many presents they managed to fit under the tree.
About 2 months ago we had talk with the kids and told them Christmas wasn't going to be what they were use to in the past. They are getting older, things they would like to have cost more, and we have been living only on one income. What I didn't know is that their grandparents had that same talk with them. My dad retired this year and now they only have one income. Christmas would be small.
Each day they watched as we put the presents under the tree. They each got 4 items. They did ask if there was going to be any more, and I simply said no....and there was no fuss.
Christmas morning comes around and they are excited. I can't tell you a Christmas where I have seen them more excited than this one. It was different. They were patient, kind, and wanted to drag out the gift giving process to last as long as possible. I was so proud of them as I didn't hear one complaint. I heard many Thank Yous and I love yous and saw lots of smiles.....but they never wanted for anything more. Emilie was so sweet and is such a giver. 2 days before Christmas she realized that Chad and I didn't have presents under the tree so she went in her room and started making ornaments, books, and all kinds of things that we could open that were hand made from her with love. It was priceless. Some of the best moments that morning was when we opened the gifts made from her. Christmas morning was good!!!
We proceeded to my parents where again, as adults, we had no presents to open and that was okay. But I loved the reaction of the kids and how they watched us enjoy their moments of opening presents. Normally they would have 10-20 big gifts to open. But Ian got only 1, Emilie got 3, and Lukus got 2....and they couldn't have been happier and more thankful. And you want to know what we did more of that day? They put the gifts down, and we all went sledding and enjoyed each others company! Does it get any better than that?
Society is so bogged down with the wants in life and we forget to focus on the things that we really need which is love, happiness, and just being together. I learned more this Christmas from just watching my kids. Although, they'll go back to school in a week and hear about the Ipod's and cell phones, and all the other accessories that kids got for Christmas and I hope they can share with their friends that what they had on Christmas morning and all during this break was quality time with their family and friends and there is no price you can put on something like that.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Great post, Brenda! Kid's are so resilient aren't they? And they can be so understanding and mature if we will let them. Ours understood for years that they weren't going to get everything all their friends got. Even this year when we were blessed to be able to give MORE than we have in the past they were so gracious and told us we didn't have to give what we did. Thanks to DR's class, we were able to save for Christmas this year and keep it under control. You are setting a great example for your kids not to overspend when things are tight. And that how much stuff you get doesn't matter, it's the memories you make and the time spent with loved ones. Love your heart and praying for a better, smoother year in 2010 for you all.
Post a Comment