How Did You Celebrate Christmas Differently?

Posted on 01.03.08 in Faith and there are 5 comments.

I’d like to say that, this year, my family thought far more about others than ourselves.

I’d like to say that, this year, my kids (and I) were more eager to give than to receive.

I’d like to say that, this year, we all fully recognized and singularly celebrated the real meaning of Christmas.

I’d like to say all that, but I’d be lying.

The truth is this Christmas was pretty much the same this year as it has been in years’ past.

In light of that, I want to start preparing now to make our 2008 holiday season different.

What are some things you did to give creatively, teach your kids, develop new traditions, or serve the needy?

What this Christmas what you’d hoped it would be or do you have anything you want to work on for next year?

The Comments:

Skip to comment form

My family stayed home for the first time in 7 Christmases.  My sister came and visited.  It was nice.  We had hoped to visit a nursing home, but have been sick constantly since before Christmas, so that didn’t happen.  Maybe we can start that later this month.

We talked about not doing gifts this year in our family, but that didn’t happen, except with my wife’s parents.  How does one tell family not to send presents, and do it politely?  How does one not send a little something to nieces and nephews, especially when you’re the oldest and don’t have many.  It reminds me of when I tried to convince my wife and others that we should simply have a potluck wedding and ask that if people want to bring a gift to bring a dish to share.  The idea got canned as being tacky.  Oh well.  Somehow, sometimes I think that the naysayers were probably right. 

MB

This was the first year in several that I didn’t make my kids some sort of home-made present.  In years past I have built toys,written books featuring them as characters, created books from their own stories (lulu.com is awesome) created R/C games to mimic a favorite car-related TV show, made them weblogs etc.

This year - it was a combination of not having any good ideas, and being crazy-busy with work (an excuse that I hate...).

My daughter especially kept inquiring whether the “special daddy-gift” was done yet.  That just killed me..

I felt like I was sleepwalking through Christmas this year - going through the motions, being “that guy” at all the family get-togethers, getting through my limited shopping in a rush.

We are planning a road-trip to SXSW, which will include a visit to Grandparents - so we held that back as the big “daddy gift”, and I put together a game for them using TX-related pictures guess what it was.

But it wasn’t the same - not having spent the hours squirreled away in the workshop or working on something after they went to bed...I didn’t have that sense of great anticipation or joy at their opening the special present.

And as much as I don’t want to think the Christmas season is all about the gifts - I think (for me anyway) that sense of expectation and joy serves as sort of a camera lens, helping me frame and focus on and think about Christ, His birth, and what it should mean in my life.

So next year - I’ll just have to try harder to be the gift-maker, so I can be the gift-receiver. 

I think I’ll try to use my blog to capture good ideas during the year (just keeping the entries closed to the public).

Mostly the same too.

We did give gifts a little differently by making them for the most part instead of buying gifts, but we’ve done that before. I was all determined to be in that only-spend-$100-for-everything Xmas camp, but that totally didn’t happen. I did make some family calendars, which took awhile to put together, but I think were popular and hopefully will be enjoyed for the entire year. We’ll be doing that next year.

I really really intended to distribute some stuff to the homeless downtown, but got all wimpy and just donated to a homeless shelter. Then last weekend I got determined (since my family was having an extended Xmas) and went and gave out a much smaller set of items. My goal is to just do that instead next year. We also were able to serve a dinner to not exactly a homeless shelter (it was a respite program - for those that are homeless but got out of a hospital) with our small group. I didn’t get to go though due to no babysitter. I’m REALLY hoping we will still be in some small group next year and can do that again.

I was determimed to make it different and it was. 

Wife’s family get-together: no gifts exchanged, just gathered for lunch, played games and visited for around 6 hours.  Very nice to see some that I have not seen in many years.

My Family get-together: no gift exchange, but games were played with prizes that included gift cards, very cool.  The most fun game was one with our family’s trivia: grandmother’s maiden name, grandfather’s middle name, anniversary dates, etc.

Our family: limited gifts compared to prior years.  Then, we went to my wife’s brother’s home. 

He just bought his first home, a fixer-upper, and was overwhelmed with all the work to be done.  With all of us there, we painted the entire house in two days, pretty cool.  Now its ready for the carpet cleaners and then he can move in! 

The kids were a big part of the event, and loved the fact that they were helping out.  Some of thier work had to be redone, but without thier knowledge.  The ability to give without money was gratifying for all of us.  They remarked several times about how much fun they had working there.

We may have to make this an annual event.

May you all have a blessed new year.

My family did a “Secret Santa” type gift exchange this year, in effort to spend less money.  I think it worked.  And, it was fun!

We also had tamales for Christmas, which I know a lot of others do, but it was our first time…

Share Your Comments:

Name:

Email:

URL (optional):

Smileys

Remember me.

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below:

My Twitter Posts