A Christ-Centered Christmas: Keeping Gift-Giving Simple {blog hop & link party!}

Welcome to a Christ-Centered Christmas!! 


As we all know, it's getting increasingly more difficult to enjoy and celebrate a truly Christ-Centered Christmas with each passing year. Commercialism, Materialism, and Consumerism reign supreme and if you're like me, it is easy to get blinded by the bling. 


That is why some friends and I have decided to host this link up. We wanted to share simple and fun ways that we keep Christ the center of our Christmas celebrations and encourage you as you seek to celebrate a Christ-Centered Christmas! 


You will find my post on Keeping Gift Giving Simple below, as well as links to the five other hostesses. 
You won't want to miss out on what they have to say! 

So be sure to stop by:

• Through My Lense
• Mama Java
• The French Bird
• The Encouraging Home, and 
• This Gal's Journey to check out the great ideas, tips and resources!

Image by Shouftas 

For my part of this hop, I'm writing about how our family keeps gift-giving simple with our two girls. 


Before Little Girl's first Christmas in 2008, my husband and I started talking about and praying through how we would approach gift-giving with our children. Would we lavish them with any and every new toy? Would we do Santa Clause? How would we give to our children without them getting spoiled? How would we, as a family, keep Christ as the CENTER of Christmas?


Some friends of ours a few steps ahead of us in life gave us a suggestion: Just give your children 3 gifts--as the wise men gave Jesus 3 gifts when they visited Him. 


Now, some of you may be thinking: "Just 3?! That's it?!"

Image by sh0dan

Really, if you could come sit down on the couch with me (after, ahem, pushing aside the mound of clean clothes I'm now eyeing on my right), you could look to your left and spy our girls' play area. 


Let me just say: These girls have.plenty.of.toys. They are in no way deprived! (I think it may be the other way around!)


Beyond just limiting the gifts, we decided to be intentional about the type of gifts. Each of our children will get a:

• want,
• need, and a
• spiritual gift.

The want usually ends up being a pretty big gift. Two years ago, we gave Little Girl a toy kitchen with lots of little gadgets and play food to go inside. 


The need could be anything from a new sweater to a potty training chair to a new pair of shoes. 


The spiritual is where the most creativity comes into play. It could be a play nativity set, a new Bible or, like my husband gave our girls last year, a journal where he records prayers and "love" letters to them.

A toy nativity set is a great "spiritual" gift for our children.

Our childrens' grandparents and other family members still give to them as they wish, although we are encouraging them to not feel obligated to give much--or to put the money they would have spent in a savings account. 


Since we started this tradition with our girls right off the bat, they will always see Christmas as a time when they receive 3 gifts--just as Jesus received 3 gifts. 


It will open up opportunities to talk more about God's greatest gift of all--and the true reason for the Season--salvation through Jesus Christ. 


And Santa Clause? We don't pretend any gifts come from him. Both of us grew up with Santa, and, no, we do NOT think Santa and Satan are synonymous, but we prayed through things and felt that it was best for our family to keep the gift-giving simple. 


Right now, Little Girl thinks Santa is as real as a Disney princess. She knows he says "Ho Ho" and comes out around Christmas. (We don't live in a bubble.) And my dad even dresses up like him and we put the girls on his knee. But there is no anticipation of what Santa brought on Christmas morning. 


When she gets a little older (maybe this year?), we will explain to her that other families do play Santa and children do think he is real, so we need to play along and keep the secret. We think there is nothing wrong with that. 


How do you do gift-giving at your house?

Make sure to visit the other bloggers participating in this series:

• Gifts that Give Back @Through My Lense
• Sharing Love by Sharing Goodies @This Gal's Journey
• Advent @Mama Jave
• Resources for Teaching Your Children about the True Meaning of Christmas @The Encouraging Home
• A Christ-Centered Christmas @The French Bird

We know we are far from having all the answers, so we want to hear from you! Be sure to link up any posts you have about how you celebrate A Christ-Centered Christmas! If you link up, be sure to grab the button to display on your blog! Thanks so much for joining us, and we hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas!