Christmas: The Joy of Giving, or the Gimmies?

Every year I struggle with how many presents are piled under our tree on Christmas morning. I mean, it's fun to see the kids walk out into the front room, where piles of shiny, brightly wrapped packages are mounding under the sparkly tree.

But then the feeding frenzy begins. The kids want to race through opening packages as fast as they can. It becomes all about "what is for me?" and "what more do I get", rather than being thankful for loving family who cared enough about them to send them all sorts of fun things.

I'm afraid that my kids are coming to view Christmas as a time to get more!!! and fun!!! stuff in abundance. I'm ashamed to admit, that there have been ocassional times when I myself have felt the greedy, "oh, that's it? that's all I got?" at the end of a Christmas morning.

BUT HOLD ON ONE SECOND! It's CHRISTMAS, for crying out loud! It's not about US, or what we can get and have and hold. It's about Jesus, and what he gave, and how much he loves!

I truely desire to help my children understand this. I mean, we talk about it all the time, and when we've been in the US, we've done boxes for kids, and here we've participated in giving gifts to the Empty Christmas Tree (the school collects gifts to give to BTA or some other PNG group). But I don't think it really sinks in. I mean, deep inside, we're all selfish, and wanting more or better.

I have a friend who in her family have decided to base their gift giving around the 3 gifts from the Maggi. So on Christmas they give each other just three gifts. That's it. They are based on the gifts given Jesus by the Wise Men: gold, incense and Myrrh. So the 3 gifts reflect that: gold is something precious and of great value, so one gift is something precious to the reciever.. something they really want or treasure. Incense: something that goes from the person to God, so that gift is something of a spiritual nature (bible study book, music, etc). Myrrh: used to embalm a body, but as a gift they give something for the body (clothes, jewelry, lotion.....).

I really love this idea!!! I would really love to do this in my family. Have a few gifts, with great thought and meaning put into them.

I know my kids would already balk at this idea. Already in their few short years of life they have been conditioned that the better Christmas = one where there are more presents than last year.

But is it too late to change and really get them focusing on what Christmas is all about?