It’s the most wonderful time of the year…unless you’re heading to ridiculously packed malls to do your Christmas Shopping. Can I just say how much I love Amazon Prime?!? (Side note, do you use Amazon Smile to support a charity? International Justice Mission is a great charity if you don’t know of one to choose.)
Anyway…I know a lot of folks have started doing the the whole 4 gifts, “want, need, wear, read” thing, which I think is awesome. We’ve been doing it for years now, after our first baby’s first Christmas when we went a little ridiculously crazy with gifts, even though she was 6 months old and literally thought the wrapping was the best part. 😉
But this year I decided to tweak it a little.
When I asked Artist to write a wish list for the four categories she replied, “But I don’t need anything.”
Wow. As a Mom, that was one of those, “Thank goodness we’re doing something right” moments, know what I mean? She realizes that she already has everything she truly needs. I made myself a second fifth cup of coffee to celebrate!
And then I started to wonder whether I’m not doing my kids any favors by perpetuating the idea that one of the gifts we give them at Christmas is an actual NEED.
What we’ve typically given to fill the “need” spot is a school related item.
I threw back a few (more) cups of coffee for good measure, and brainstormed about how I could change the wording for us. Here’s what I came up with.
Like I said, this doesn’t really change what gifts we give, just how we label them. And I feel a lot happier about these categories than calling something a need that isn’t.
What do you think? If you do the “want, need, wear, read” what do you give as the need? Of course if they were for me you could totally give me coffee for the need category…I’m a Mom, the coffee need is legit. 😀
We’ve done Want, Need, Wear, Read for a long time. I’ve loved it but we’ve had many conversations about how blessed we are and what our ‘needs’ really are. This year my oldest decided that baby Jesus got 3 gifts and we shouldn’t get more than he did. We’re also discussing how we can give Him gifts for His birthday this year – I love it! Oh, and we have a manger in the living room instead of a tree…
As for the ‘need’ giving – I’ve done backpacks to carry their things, rain boots/gloves/hats/etc, last year they got a room makeover as their ‘need’ (a little ridiculous, I know)…so, yeah, always kind of a stretch on the ‘need’ part and something I also struggled with a bit. I did appreciate that it gave them some boundaries for expectation and kept me from going crazy.
It’s a hard knock life, this mom gig. Wouldn’t trade it for anything but sometimes it’s hard to know what the *right* thing is among so many *good* things… 🙂
I love it, Shelby! What a sweet girl to decide she shouldn’t get more gifts than Jesus! I’d love to hear what you guys come up with for giving Jesus gifts for His Birthday! <3
This year, I am so tired of kid clutter that I’m trying for 3 practical gifts only. This year they are getting one item I know they will use, an educational gift, and books. Or in Bo’s case, she isn’t getting any books, because we have plenty that interest her already.
Love it. Yeah, Smiles’ “wear” and “books” are both ones that were her big sisters…there’s ZERO point in me buying her new stuff when we already have stuff and she won’t know and won’t care.