Flipping Christmas the RIGHT way around!
So it's no surprise that CHRISTMAS is well and truly on it's way. Ready or not! Just a reminder in case you've missed the Christmas carols and decor bombarding us since October. At least along with Christmas prep has come the sunshine! Like REAL sunshine. Bliss!
Thinking ahead to the long list of things coming up, I've made a mental list of the 'have to's' and 'want to's' . This helps profoundly in un-muddling my mummy brain when it comes to the fast-filling calendar around this time of year. One of the things I wanted to do this year was an activity advent calendar. Well it's the 5th today and needless to say, as bummed as I am that I wasn't organised to do one, my kids couldn't care less and are happy as larry with a small piece of cheap chocolate! So that will fall on my to-do list for next year because I think that would be pretty fun.This year I am really convicted and aware of the trap of commercialized Christmas, which is all about getting, versus. the authentic essence of Christmas which is GIVING!!! SO contrasting yet we so often get caught up in the worlds way. We even groom our kids to accept and expect that Christmas is all about what they;re going to GET. I've tried to come up with not a whole Christmas change but a Christmas 'tweak' if you like and I hope it inspires some of you to re-frame how we present Christmas to our kids. Often times we do a whole lot of consumerism and throw in a little nativity story on Christmas Eve, or a whole lot of emphasis on the fun of Christmas and think a short Christmas day service is enough. I think our festive seasons, as the one driving the agenda with what our kids learn about Christmas, needs to be laced with and rooted in the ethos of generosity, giving and others. Don't get me wrong, I have wrapped a good amount of presents for my kids for Christmas day (yes, I have wrapped my kids presents already...mainly to sort what I had in a present cupboard stashed away) because it is still our delight as parents to GIVE to our kids. I am in no way advocating a stingy, boring Christmas, lets get that straight. But, how great would it be to set up experiences for our kids where they learn the absolute joy of giving. Nothing beats the full heart you have when someone receives your gift and is blessed by what you chose, paid for, made and thoughtfully gave them.
So here's my plans for what we'll be doing in our home this Christmas season...
1. Baking day
This is something I wanted to do anyway, so I'm not adding anything more to my list. I have bought pre-made gingerbread houses (because God knows I haven't got time to make them), that the kids can decorate. We are also going to be making gingerbread men that they will decorate. Instead of eating them all afterwards, I've bought some clear wrapping that we can gift them up in and deliver them to neighbours and teachers.
2. Gift giving
Sad to say but this year will be the first year that my kids will be buying Christmas presents. Maybe it's because this is the first year they are getting proper pocket money. They are currently saving like mad and to add to their saving efforts, we are having a 'Chore Day' (sounds like a blast, doesn't it?). The kids will have 1 day in the holidays coming up where I'll stick a bunch of jobs on a whiteboard, each worth a dollar. They can do a chore, write their name next to the jobs they complete and at the end of the day (and the inspection, no, doing a job half done is not worth any money), they will earn $1 for each chore. Later that day, we will take them individually to a shop with cheap stuff (like the $2 shop or Kmart) and let them choose a present for each person in our immediate family. I will also buy wrapping paper for them so they can wrap them, themselves. There is something about having to think about what someone else would like and the excitement of keeping it secret and seeing them open it. I am so looking forward to that! We don't usually do any presents on Christmas Eve so I thought this would be a fun family tradition to start for Christmas Eve.
3. Service
I love the idea of teaching kids that we have other valuable commodities besides money. How much money we have is not a limiting factor to whether we can bless someone or not. I heard a mum who did this with her family, speak about this activity and I'm so excited to try it one day this holidays. The kids will pick 'Secret Santa Service' names from a jar. They will then 'secretly' have to plan ways to bless that person for the day (maybe week? But I think they will lose focus). This can be secretly making that person's bed, secretly doing that person's chore before they get to it, maybe even giving them something nice like a card or something you have. I would like to try this within our immediate family and then to get them to pick someone outside our family. Maybe it's the neighbor or a friend. Just picking someone they can do something SECRETLY for, and teach them the joy of not always getting the glory from a good deed but the joy of knowing you've blessed someone.
4. Christmas service flyers
We have done this for a few years and it is really painless and the kids quite enjoy the novelty of posting a gazillion letters into letterboxes! We usually grab a hundred or so flyers for our Christmas event at church and plan a family walk up and down our road. Half of us take one side of the road, half of us take the other and we put flyers into the letterboxes of our street, inviting them to the Christmas event. This takes us all of 20 minutes and in under half an hour, our entire street is invited to church and our kids have learnt to think about the families who are living in the houses we pass everyday.
5. Random act of kindness adventure edition
Gavin and I were talking about this the other day, actually when we were on Community Impact Day, handing out the Christmas boxes our church had filled. We went to houses a few roads away from our home and found families with solo mums, struggling large families who had sick kids or grandparents raising grand-kids alone and realised how fun it would be to pick one of those homes and take the kids to secretly drop some New World or Pak n Save vouchers into their letterboxes at night. The sneaky part is what is fun for the kids. Maybe they can even do an anonymous card too? We would never know the gratitude of the person receiving it but just picturing the surprise and joy on someone's face when they got the voucher would be fun enough.
I would LOVE to hear any other ideas you've come up with as you think about how to create a culture of sharing, giving and serving with your families this year! I find living in an incredible country like New Zealand where we can give our kids what they want and make it all about them, it is a challenge we need to take up, to make it about others. Lets be honest. In a few months, the presents we buy them will be broken, lost, outgrown or boring and the hollow consumer experience ends in disappointment. The only thing that leaves a lasting imprint are the lives we touch and the souls we connect with and bless in the process.
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