Let Christmas enrich your family, not impoverish it

I think that over the years what was once a holiday of family and good food and religious traditions has simply become fuel for the economic machine.

I always wonder at this time of year what it is that our children are learning from us. What are they learning about our culture? About love? About abundance or the lack of it?

Everywhere I go at the moment I hear people complaining about the extra financial strains that they experience at this time of year. Why? Why would anyone do this to themselves and what is it that they are teaching their kids?

The thing is that whatever we are teaching our kids now is creating the culture of the next generation, and if we really stopped to ask ourselves the question, would any of us actually want to place this same strain onto our kids when they grow up?

What I would like for my kids is that they grow up believing that this is a time of year for celebrating our togetherness, for celebrating love and family and relaxation at the end of a successful and fulfilling year. I would like them to remember it as a time that is stress-free and fun; not as a time where their parents lose their sanity and place themselves in debt trying to buy more presents.

Presents are generally forgotten about by the time Christmas comes around again anyway, but good memories aren’t.

Let’s make this Christmas one of good memories and happy families, and let the presents become an added bonus and not the main feature. You can change Christmas, and like all things, it starts at home. Create your own personal definition of Christmas, one that is not dictated to you by billboards and commercials, and trust that you have a better idea of what will create good memories for your kids than the guys on TV do!

Wishing you all a relaxing, abundant, and meaningful festive season.

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