Call me "Pollyanna" but I think that, maybe, just maybe, a tanking economy may be the best thing to happen to Christmas in years.
Just today I got two emails from church members about how they are approaching Christmas differently this year, de-emphasizing presents and emphasizing presence. After all, what is the greatest present you have to give? A thing you bought off a shelf? I doubt it. When we give ourselves we give a lot more. And when we say "it's the thought that counts" then why not give what matters?
So here are some suggestions of things we can do to make this Christmas the best ever.
Make your own gifts. You don't have to be crafty. How about compiling a small book of your own recipes? Or maybe you could record some poems or readings on tape or CD to give to friends. Instead of a gift exchange with friends, how about setting up a cookie exchange?
Give yourself. How about giving coupon for babysitting or leaf raking or snow shoveling? Instead of a gift certificate, how about an invitation to come over for a meal? If you are skilled in an area, offer to give a tutorial!
Volunteer. Help out as a family or group of friends at our local food shelf or CHUM or Damiano or Neighbor to Neighbor. There are plenty of organizations that run on the work of volunteers and doing it as a group is great fun.
Donate. So, with all that money you are saving from not buying gifts, why not find some causes worth supporting? One of my favorites is Heifer International (last year I gave a goat in the name of my nephews and nieces) but there are other great causes as well such as not for profit arts organizations which provide for the community year round.
Now, you may be saying to yourself, "But my kid/friend/parent/significant other is expecting a gift! Why mess up his or her Christmas?"
Well, first, I'm not saying don't give gifts. I think we should give gifts, but be more conscientious about our gift giving.
Second, expectations can be altered. As my family of origin started to grow we agreed that buying a gift for everyone just wasn't practical, so we agreed on a gift exchange with a limit on how much we could spend on the gift put in the exchange ($10). Part of the fun became finding interesting gifts under that limit that we thought would be of interest to our family.
Third, ask yourself what really made Christmases past meaningful and focus on those things. I'm betting that on reflection most people won't list gifts among those things. Though I really, really loved this big box of legos I got when I was 9. Gosh, I loved those legos. But, really, what made those legos really fun was playing with them with my brother and my friends.
So, please, have yourself a merry little Christmas! Let's set out to enjoy the season.