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Giving and Receiving

Finding the true meaning of Christmas in the act of giving and receiving.

opening gifts

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Christmas this year was a simple affair at our house. We filled each child’s stocking with a couple of small hand puppets (purchased for $1 apiece at Target and Michaels) and one small wooden animal from the Vienna Christmas Market. We didn’t wrap any gifts for Lily, but we gave Johnny and Emma each two books (purchased used at a library sale). The kids had gotten gifts from grandparents on both sides earlier in the year, and our trip to Vienna was our main Christmas event. My family draws names for Christmas, and my sister K sent my kids a Duplo farm set, which we let the kids open on Christmas Eve,  much to their delight. We had a very nice, quiet Christmas morning – so quiet, in fact, that we didn’t even take any pictures – the above photo is Johnny’s birthday in Austria, opening presents with help from Emma and Uncle S. In the afternoon of Christmas Day we also brought out one hand-me-down toy for each child, including the instant hit exersaucer for Lily:

LIly in her exersaucer

I’ve tried to keep a family focus on giving and receiving throughout both November and December, starting with our Gratitude Chain in November and 25 Days of Giving in December. The Gratitude Chain was pretty easy since it was really just an extension of our “Three things I liked today” tradition. 25 Days of Giving was considerably more complex – my children are all very young, and traveling during those 25 days definitely complicated matters. We didn’t do something every single day, and a couple things we started (including some cards) are still waiting to be completed and sent off. It also felt like we were receiving a lot more than we were giving. For example, I mopped my mom’s floors, but she cooked for us every single day we were there! We helped clear up after my siblings’ choir/orchestra rehearsal, but my high school choir teacher had allowed me to bring my kids to the rehearsal. We donated toys, and I had that much less picking up to do/get my kids to do at the end of the day. We made cards – for people who have helped us in many different ways, and whose lives enrich ours every day. Emma started to enjoy giving things to others, and to see that helping out can be rewarding even if the help is doing chores.

Maybe that’s what a project like “25 Days of Giving” is all about. Sometimes it takes giving to understand how much you receive. I don’t know if we’ll try a scheduled 25 days next year, or if we’ll go for something like Valerie’s Gratitude Activity Jar, but I definitely want to build giving into our Christmas season each year. And I hope to maintain a spirit of giving – be it physical gifts, service, or basic kindness and friendship – all year round.

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MaryAnne at Mama Smiles

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

12 thoughts on “Giving and Receiving”

  1. I love the idea of focusing on giving during the Christmas season. I’m afraid I didn’t plan much at all this year on the lead up to Christmas. A new baby + traveling mid-way through December took up all my spare energy this year, but next year I want to be more proactive in planning activities like the ones you did.

  2. I think you did great. I’d like to do more giving with my girls every month. The next two months are going to be the months of packing, we’re moving to a new rental house 20 min away, so I would like to do a lot of giving in January. :-)
    .-= Katherine´s last blog ..Merry Christmas =-.

  3. This is wonderful. I love how deliberate you are about so many positive things. Thank you for sharing some of those building blocks behind the scenes!
    .-= Elisa | blissfulE´s last blog ..Sunday sunshine :: tennis trainer =-.

  4. It sounds like you had a fantastic Christmas and managed not to turn it into an action-packed extravaganza as some of us :D I really like your focus on giving and hope to do more of it next year.
    .-= Natalie´s last blog ..Toys My Child Is Playing With – Baufix =-.

  5. I love how you made Christmas so meaningful to your little ones. We also want to teach our kids the importance of giving. And it is so hard when my mom keeps buying and buying for them. Sigh.

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