Some people go crazy when it comes to Christmas gifts for their kids. I totally understand that — my family used to give a ton of gifts. Then we decided it was enough and really cut down on the number of gifts.
After all, it’s about the true meaning of Christmas and not material things.
This is exactly why this mom decided to only give a few gifts to her kids this year.
Valarie Reynolds posted a picture of her Christmas tree on Facebook.
Taking one glance, there’s really nothing wrong with it!
It looks exactly like a modern Christmas tree.
Except for one pretty important thing.
It only had a few presents underneath it.
That might not seem too unusual, right?
But if you think about it, many of our trees as kids were completely cluttered with presents underneath, both big and small.
Valarie decided she wanted to change that for her kids moving forward.
She explained why that was the case in a very poignant way.
Valarie went on to explain why her family decided to only give a few gifts to their kids.
And that it was important to celebrate the holiday like this with the focus being on the true meaning of Christmas.
Even though at one point she felt that the tree looked “pitiful”, she remembered why she had decided to do Christmas this way
And that it wasn’t a pity at all. In fact, it was the exact opposite!
She wanted her kids to know that Christmas isn’t about all the gifts you get.
It’s about appreciating what you’ve got and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
After all, her kids have everything they need even without Christmas.
They have shelter, food, and modern technology, but most of all, they are loved. That’s the most important thing.
I think it’s important to teach kids the true meaning of Christmas and not the overly commercialized way it seems to be celebrated these days.
So I’m totally with her.
Turns out this post definitely resonated with a lot of people. Her post quickly went viral and garnered 2,800 likes and over 400 comments.
Most of them were positive.
Most people commented that kids these days don’t know the true meaning of Christmas and thought this was a great idea to teach them appreciate important things in life.
It definitely sends a message to focus on family during the holidays.
There are other ways families try to keep Christmas presents on the more minimal end.
Snowman gift towers are a great way to keep presents to a minimum, and make the experiences of opening gifts so much fun!
Other families may also have rules about how many presents kids get from Santa.
It creates a tradition in and of itself!
Some families are starting to just do Secret Santa, avoiding excessive gifts altogether.
That way, you don’t have to worry about getting gifts for multiple people that you don’t really want to give anything to anyways!
As they say, materialistic things don’t necessarily bring happiness.
The more is not necessarily the merrier, and there are so many more occasions to give gifts throughout the year!
What do you think of this story?
Do you like how commercialized Christmas has become? Or would you rather teach your kids the true meaning of this holiday?
