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Gifts that Last

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Img_5609If you’re a mother of young children, you may wonder what to buy them for Christmas. I know I do! I have five boys, so I own just about every conceivable boy toy there is. I hate to see expensive toys that are quickly broken or never played with. Like you, I’d like to give my children gifts that last.

I have two suggestions for you and I’d love to hear yours. First, focus on three gifts per child. I’m not saying you have to limit yourself to that, but if you do, hooray for you! I use an approach I read about in Christian Parenting Today years ago. I give each child a gold, frankincense, and myrhh gift. The gold gift is either the most expensive or most desired gift wrapped in gold paper. I love to surprise my kids with this one. The frankincense gift is anything that facilitates their relationship with God (a Bible, CD, video, toy, devotional that has to do with faith). This is wrapped in white. Finally, a myrrh gift is anything to do with the body. I did a LOT of bath toys with this one for a while, but I’m now shifting to clothing. This is wrapped in dark paper–I usually use a dark mauve if I can find it. I have miniatures of the real gifts that we discuss each Christmas Eve and the significance of them to the Christ child.

My other suggestion to you is to give your children the gift of giving. It’s very time-consuming for me to take my children shopping for each other (we draw names) or to give them time to shop for us, but it’s important. My kids also put boxes together for www.samaritanspurse.org. We watch a video with our homeschool group every year to see the kids get their boxes. It makes their giving very real to them.

If your child has everthing, teach them to give to someone who doesn’t! Happy Christmas planning!

2 Comments

  1. sis
    sis on October 30, 2007 at 1:58 pm

    we do the samaritan’s purse shoeboxes, they’re fun for everyone involved i think!!
    i like your 3 gift idea….worth passing on, so thanks!! 🙂

  2. Leanne Bryan
    Leanne Bryan on November 28, 2007 at 1:59 pm

    We are using Giving Tree for gifts this Christmas. They’re similar to markmakers in that they’re charitable gift cards that the recipient donates 10% of the gift card total to charity.
    I think they have something like 1.5 million non-profits for you to donate to.
    A unique and meaningful gift to give this Christmas.
    If you’re interested you can check out their website at http://www.givingtreelife.com