This Christmas was loads of fun for the Becker household. Mila and Eli, my 3 ½ year old twins, really bought into the magic of Christmas. They were over-the-moon with excitement as they anticipated Santa’s arrival, and they took great pride in ripping open the wrapping paper to find gifts. Siler thoroughly enjoyed jumping and rolling in the balled up wrapping paper on the floor.

While gifts are fun, they also can be overwhelming. By the time grandparents, great-grandparents and other relatives shower my children with presents, we have enough loot to open our own toy store. For that reason, I’m learning to restrain myself from buying too much for my children for Christmas. As a parent, I know it’s easy to go overboard if you don’t keep yourself in check. When you go Christmas shopping, you only think of those darling faces opening up gifts on Christmas Day and not the clutter that will forever grace your floor.

When our twins were born, we decided that we didn’t want to go nuts with Santa gifts. It’s my hope that I’ll raise children who grow up to know that Christmas is not solely about spending money and collecting material things. I want them to know that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus, God’s gift to all of us. As they get older, I also hope to introduce a community service element to our Christmas.

Mark and I decided  our children will get no more than three gifts from Santa to represent the three gifts that the wisemen brought baby Jesus. Maybe that’s why they were so wise. They knew when enough was enough! Our thinking was if Jesus only got three gifts then why should our children get more than that.

This year our children asked for some bigger items. Siler, of course, doesn’t yet know about asking for things, but I know that won’t last for long. By the time I bought three gifts for all three kids, I decided it was too much. This week I’ve been returning some of their gifts because I realize that children really don’t need that much to have a fun, memorable Christmas. My children are all so close in age that they play with each other’s toys anyway.  The returns are  saving us some cash. That makes me happy, but it makes my husband even happier.

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