I\'m Summer, a mouthy, sarcastic bitch. I\'m passionate about natural birth, long term breastfeeding, and living naturally. I curse too much, love tattoos, and will some day be crushed to death by my book collection. I homeschool, dream of gardening, and swing to the left. 
The Gift Of Not Giving
Most regular readers know that this year we are doing a Toy Free Christmas. Even though we don’t celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, we do want to teach our children that giving is better than receiving and that less is more. Of course the fact that we’re flat broke helps to encourage this.
Not stressing out over buying a bunch of toys really has been a gift this year. Dearest and I are free from feeling like we’ve got to shop, shop, shop. We’ve explained to Evan that there won’t be much this year and I think he’s almost relieved. The building excitement is less, it feels calmer around the house when we talk about the upcoming holidays. There is so much more freedom to enjoy everything else without the shadow of presents looming over our head. And I suspect present opening day will be much saner as well.
Though, oddly to me, not everyone is thrilled with our idea. Some family members seem almost terrified by our choice to keep it simple and are throwing themselves into a frenzy to make up for some perceived loss. One set of family members have announced that they are buying the boys brand new bikes. Bikes. Evan already has 2 bikes, one that needs new training wheels and another he’s not yet tall enough to ride. And Trey, he’s only 2. He can’t even peddle the trike he has yet let alone try to ride a real, big kid bike.
Still, I am hoping that our ideas of simplicity outweigh the push of consumerism. Living on less and
I have a hard time with relatives wanting to spoil my kids. Their first few Christmases I didn’t even but them anything. It is not like they are aware enough to complain. I can’t understand why people feel the need to add to our pile of toys that they hardly play with.
I bet my mom would also try to make up for the loss if we did that. I think it is a great idea though.
phdinparenting´s last blog post..What are your nap challenges?
How on earth is it threatening!? I just don’t understand. btw this entry gets cut off. The last word is “and” which leads me to believe that there should be more!