Adventures in Parenting

My family was not financially well off when I was growing up. At Christmas we did not receive any presents from my parents. After all, they reasoned, they give us room and board, isn’t that enough? Can’t argue with that.

I brought along a similar frugal mentality when we had children. Since as a young couple we didn’t have much money, and I was a stay-at-home mom, we did not give presents to our children when they were little. We figured they got enough presents from friends and relatives, our presents would just be lost in the shuffle. Since they were not conditioned to getting presents from us, they didn’t miss it. If there was anything they really wanted, we can get it at the after-Christmas sales.

However, to promote the spirit of Christmas, “Santa” began to leave small presents in the stockings when the children were about 8 or 9 years old. The presents from Santa of course where not displayed under the tree. It was a big surprise on Christmas day when we check our stockings to see what Santa brought.

Santa’s presents were never very costly or extravagant, but he always knew exactly what each of us wanted. One year, he gave my husband the Disney dvd Cars that our family wanted. My daughter received crochet needles and an instruction book with it for her new hobby she wanted to learn. I got a pair of inexpensive earrings from the costume jewelry department.

How do you handle giving of Christmas gifts to your children?