Remember when Christmas didn’t start until after the Thanksgiving stuffing was devoured? It was a peaceful, simpler time. Now, big box stores set up holiday displays the day after Halloween, and there’s a constant pressure to shop, shop, shop! Even Santa has become commercialized.
This year, take back the true meaning of the season and remember what it’s really about. Here are some tips for recapturing a little magic and the holiday spirit!
1. Focus On What Really Matters
Long before PlayStations, computers, and tablets, there were families did activities that didn’t involve electronics. This season, get your family together for some time away from the screen. Decorate the tree together. Slather icing on Christmas cookies. Sing carols. Presents are great, but nothing beats time spent with loved ones during the holidays.
2. Volunteer Your Time
With your kids in tow, volunteer to help those in need. Wrap gifts for a toy drive, hand out hats and gloves to the homeless, or spend a weekend working in a soup kitchen. Remember, your kids will take their cues from you. If you make helping others a priority, so will they.
3. Scale Down the Gifts
This year, make the holidays about something besides gifts. Scale back on your purchases and contribute your savings to the kids’ college funds instead. Get the whole family in on the act with a GradSave account for your children. And make sure the kids understand that the gift of education is far better than any they could hope to find under the tree.
4. Help Your Neighbors
Set some time aside to help an elderly neighbor hang their lights or shovel the snow from a friend’s driveway. Teach your kids that sometimes the only reward for a good deed is the feeling they get when they do it. Send them around with plates of homemade cookies or invite the neighborhood for hot chocolate. Foster a sense of community and goodwill.
The commercialization of the holidays has gotten out of hand, but you don’t have to perpetuate it. Whatever your beliefs or convictions, remember what the season is about. And keep in mind the words of The Grinch, “Maybe Christmas, he thought, didn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”
