Crazy figures are bandied about the Internet of unwanted gifts being thrown out every year in America to the tune of $400 million.
I wonder how far behind this we are here in SA?
This year I decided that we would not get sucked into the gift-giving machine that Christmas can become.
The pressure on families is immense.
Children can speak of nothing else but what they want for Christmas (I overheard one parent saying their kids had circled almost every item in the gift catalog).
Then there is the obligatory gift for every member of the family and what about Christmas lunch with all the trimmings?
From table décor to sweets and Christmas crackers, the financial burden can put huge strain on people’s pockets.
For a few years now, our families have had a rule about no gifts for the adults but still everyone buys the kids gifts.
When it’s a big Christmas with loads of grannies, aunties and uncles the gift-giving marathon becomes a bit obscene.
The children tear into armloads of gifts, barely taking breath to say thank you before ripping the wrapping paper off the next one.
By the end of it we are swimming in discarded wrapping paper and a few children are crying either from sheer exhaustion or because Santa didn’t deliver what was asked for.
We want our children to enjoy Christmas and enjoy their gifts, but more then that I want them to experience the joy of giving.
So this year as a family we’ve decided that we would try to reduce the craziness. Instead of uncles and aunts each buying gifts for all their nieces and nephews, each child has been given the assignment of buying a gift for one cousin (secret Santa style) and shopping for a gift for an underprivileged child.
Giving is so much better than receiving!
Christmas is a celebration of Jesus’ birth.
Despite being mighty God, He entered the world as a lowly baby. Jesus’ parents weren’t wealthy and his manger was likely a drinking trough or manger cut in the bedrock surrounded by animals brought into the home for the night.
The first Christmas was pretty simple. It’s okay if yours is too.
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We at the Courier wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
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