How to stop the Christmas guilt.
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As Christmas is approaching, the guilt starts to set in for parents across the planet.
We compare our homes, or decorations, our trees, and our amount of presents surrounding them. When we see our friends have bought out the Toys-R-Us warehouse for their two children, we feel guilty that we only have four presents for each child. We start to think maybe we should have done more, maybe our kids will think we do not love them, or maybe they will grow up to be depressed human beings because we did not get them the new Nintendo Switch! (slight exaggeration but you understand, we do this as parents).
Our wake up call
So a couple of years ago, we were those parents who went above and beyond for Christmas. I had a ten-year-old boy and a one-year-old boy and I just wanted them to be happy! So we bought the best and biggest and you know what? My kids did not play with most of it. I got my son this big expensive robot he asked for and you know what, he never even put it together… I was frustrated, to say the least. My one-year-old was overwhelmed with everything, he just wanted to play with the first thing he opened and he was done. It was this Christmas that we realized we were doing this to feed our own ego. Last year we started a new tradition of more experiences and less stuff.
New Traditions
We took our boys to Great Wolf Lodge last year for the first time ever and they loved it! We bought less material things and put more towards this experience for our family and it rocked! We decided it would be something we did every year for Christmas. some other things we do each year during the holiday season? We go to the Columbus Zoo to see their Christmas lights which are amazing, if you have not been and live in Ohio, go check it out! Another new tradition we started last year is the Christmas train in Hocking Valley.
Do we still give gifts?
Of course we still give gifts but we try to limit it to two or three gifts that we are really intentional about. Our two year old asked for dinosaurs so he literally got one pack of dinosaurs from Sam’s Club and Magnatiles (these are awesome for toddlers you guys). My oldest only asked for a video game and loves to read so we put a lot of thought into a book for him and I think he will love it!
Make sure you follow me on facebook or Instagram to see what our Christmas tree looks like on Christmas Eve. Remember your kids will remember what you did with them, they will remember traditions but they will not remember every single gift you stress about!