Hello friends!
Are you enjoying the holiday season? I hope so! I hope the mere mention of Christmas doesn't add more stress to your busy lives but instead fills you with the excitement and joy of Jesus!
I am striving to be less self focused this year but oh it's tough. It's difficult when you know you are going to be asked "what do you want" and you have to come up with something. It's difficult because I WANT so much!
I find myself consumed with the "gimmies." It seems that the more opportunity I have to GET, the less content I am. Stuff truly does not satisfy yet this truth is really hard to digest at times.
Can you relate?
Clint and I want to raise our kids to be selfless. We want them to find joy in giving and to be thankful when receiving.
Andy Stanley once said the anecdote to greed is giving or something like that and so this Christmas we are doing something a little different.
It was Clint's idea but unfortunately, it took me awhile to get on board. We had a certain amount of money to spend on our kids - money from grandparents, etc. I bought a few things but there was still some money left so I had a little conversation with my girls.
Me: Paige and Raegan, we have a little more money to spend on your Christmas presents. Now, we already got you some stuff and we could buy you more. More things for you OR you could take that cash and buy a gift for a child who might not get a Christmas present this year. What do you think?
Paige: (Very sweetly) I want to buy a gift for another child. (It helped that her school just had an assembly about Toys For Tots!)
Raegan: (With panic in her voice) I want presents!!! :)
Okay so we gotta work on the red head but we'll go with Paige! I'm hope this will instill in our kids the joy of giving. I think this will become a Christmas tradition!
As the parent though, I was feeling pretty convicted because I had compiled quite a list of wants myself. But the Lord was gently speaking to my soul - Jami, you need to do this too.
I tried tuning Him out a few times but He is rather persistent, you know and so I too committed to take some of the money I'm given and give it away as well.
I would love to glean wisdom from you today! How are you teaching the REAL meaning of Christmas to your kiddos?
Recently I've been ispired by some of my friends. Jessica made a paper link chain for her son so he could count down the days to Jesus's birthday. I also know that Abby plans to have a birthday party for Jesus with her kids.
Let's share, shall we?!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
How do you fight the Christmas "gimmies?"
Labels: life with kids, the holidays
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Oh Jami, how I can so relate! I want so much too :) I love Andy Stanleys anecdote to greed. It is so similar to what we should do when jelous of someone...pray for them.
We are totally having a birthday party for Jesus on Christmas day. We are not going anywhere...just us at home! We are pretty excited about it since it seems that often it can come and go without much time to be still and reflect.
I am not sure what we are going to exaclty do for His birthday party but there WILL be a cake and party hats ;) I would love to know what Abby (and others!) is going to do for their birthday party!
I was telling the girls at bible study yesterday that I havent even bought any gifts for the boys and I am not sure that we are going to (other than stockings). I figure they are still so young that they wont even notice and they are going to be getting so many other things from grandparents.
Something that we just did with Ethan was buy a gift for another kid in an impoverished country. We got the world vision gift catalog (www.worldvisiongifts.org) and I was so excited about this! So we had him choose an animal (a real animal) from the catalog that he would want to get for another kid. And he chose a goat :) Glad he didnt choose the cow b/c they were $500!!!
I love Paiges sweet heart and Reagans spunky honest heart ;) You are doing a great job with your kiddos Jami!!
Cant wait to read everyone else's responses!!
Jami,
I love that you guys are doing this! I get so excited when I hear about young families being so intentional with their kids.
I was able to hear Andy Stanley when he talked about guilt, anger, greed and jealously...and his anecdotes: confess, forgive, give and celebrate...that talk made quite an impression on me. I think back on it often!
Thanks for the mark you're leaving on your kids! Love you!
Well, one thing that drives me crazy about Christmas is the "have to buy" for (insert name). Ring, ring, "What do you want for Christmas? (unspoken:so I can mark you off my "have to buy for" list)" The insincerity of it all just really strips the meaning of Chistmas away. Christ was a personalized gift to each of us. So, as I think about the gifts to get others, I have really been trying to personalize it. One of those things is instead of buying something for Morgan's teacher, we are making Christams ornaments. To give, from the heart with love, is so much better than receiving. We usually buy for a child through Lydia Homes, but I missed it this year. I still plan on having Morgan buy something for a child this year. But I agree with you, I would love to buy less for them, and focus more on giving to others and centering on Jesus.
Post a Comment