People often ask me how I manage life with 8 kids. My reply usually sounds something like, “Well you know, one kid at a time. They just join the madness and find their spot.” Not one to over analyze things, this philosophy has worked for me. Find a rhythm and tweak and fine tune as we go.
Occasionally, I’ll notice that something is a bit out of balance and have to spend some time praying over what exactly it is and how to change it. Recently, that has been the case with our Christmas celebrations. Being followers of Christ, Christmas is one of the most signifigant holidays that we celebrate. My husband and I are like-minded in being comfortable with a bit of ‘organized chaos’ and our Christmases have reflected that. Presents bulging out of every closet and cupboard. Impromptu shopping trips – inevitably on Christmas Eve. Splurging on gifts that we know will bless our kids just for the sheer enjoyment of watching their faces light up on Christmas morning.
For the past several years, it has been increasingly difficult to manage this flying by the seat of our pants method. I have been praying for months now as Christmas time approached for wisdom on keeping it simple. The quantity of presents which we had inititally thought of as a reflection of our love was now a burden and we learned, not a reflection of our love at all. I have always been the kind of person who values quality over quantity and in that spirit we have decided to limit our gift giving this year to 3 gifts each – along the lines of the 3 gifts that were given to the wise men in the Christmas story.
I have read variations on this theme such as giving:
- something they WANT
- something they NEED
- something to WEAR
- something to READ or SHARE or WATCH etc
With so many kids to buy for, however, this really seemed to be more complicated than we needed.
Since I have adopted this simplified plan, I can not tell you how much less pressure I have felt. I hit up a few stores last week when I was waiting for one of my kids to finish up at their tutor. With my simple strategy firmly in front of me – my shopping trip was, well, simple.
Another thing I have done is to avoid crowded shopping scenarios – especially ridiculously early Black Friday shopping. In fact, I order quality gifts from the wide variety of catalogues I seem to have ‘subscribed’ to over the years. This year, because we had a lot of business expenses, I was able to cash in my rewards points for a number of Amazon gift cards that I plan on completing my shopping with. Did I mention my free trial subscription to Amazon Prime – free 2 day shipping? Does it get any easier than this?
I encourage you to pray and find your own traditions that reflect your heart for your family. With shopping taking less of our time this season, I plan on spending more time {and blogging about} with my family doing things to help us all connect to one another and God. A few of these things are a Jesse Tree Daily Devotional, baking for our neighbors, volunteering at the local homeless shelter and visiting an amazing Bethlehem Town scene with our homeschool group.
I will still have to help the kids to plan for and organize their gifts for one another. I am still praying about simplifying this area of our Christmas routine. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Do you have any things that you do to simplify your Christmas season?
Share and Enjoy
I feel the same way!! I think quality is SO important. Very encouraging.
I really like the simplified gift buying guideline. I can see how that takes a lot of pressure off of you. For many years now my family only buys for the kids. The adults do not buy for each other except for mom sometimes. After all, its mom! Actually he started doing it that way primarily due to the financial aspect of it but now we realize that we have brought back into focus the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus.
Simple – Yes! That is what we are doing here. I try and avoid crowds as much as possible and on-line resources are so helpful! We limit our family gift giving as well to just a few special items. I try and focus on giving to non-believers and those struggling in order to reflect Christ which what Christmas is really about – Christ gave himself to a dying world. That REALLY makes Christmas special!
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