Buy Nothing Christmas
19 Dec
There’s a campaign underway in a town in Canada to encourage folks to have a “buy nothing Christmas.” (You know, the kind where you make gifts or give coupons for stuff like babysitting and massages.)
The average American supposedly is spending around $850 this Christmas buying gifts. Of course since this is an average, there are lots of people spending way more than that. Indeed, most of the people in my circle of friends are spending upwards of $1000 on gifts this year.
My husband and I have never been a big fan of showering our kids with millions of gifts under the tree, mostly because they simply don’t need it! So when they were still quite young, we started the three-gifts-per-child rule tradition. (Hey, if Jesus only got three gifts – as legends about the Three Wise Men tell – why do my kids need more?)
I have talked with so many people who simply can’t resist buying lots of stuff for their kids each year. They say they could never buy only three gifts because their kids would be so disappointed.
On the contrary, the three-gifts tradition is so liberating for everyone in the family! My kids actually get three items they *want* and don’t have to fake excitement over the fluff they didn’t really want anyway. They spend a lot of time refining their lists to make sure the three most important items are listed. And they never complain that so-and-so got more (at least not at Christmas time 
), because my kids are happy getting the three items they want most.
And not spending so much on the kids enables us to share our blessings with those around us who literally *can’t* buy even the necessities for their families. And isn’t that really what the Christmas season is supposed to be about?
Great post, Wendy. My wife and I have a 2 year old daughter and, like you and your husband, want her to understand what Christmas should really be about. I think that here in America, we tend to go a little crazy around this time of year. I just can’t see going seriously in debt all for a couple of days of fun.