For those that celebrate Christmas, you know that it can be a time filled with special memories and magic but also a time filled with stress and pressure. We often put expectations on ourselves as parents or feel pressure to “keep up” by doing all the things we see everyone around us doing.

I came across this post from Nicole T., a fellow Summerville parent, about how she keeps Christmas simple by focusing on memory making instead of buying lots of gifts. Especially this holiday season when many of us are trying to reduce stress and save money, I thought her words were worth sharing.

“Let me share something that I learned I feel really changed my perspective on Xmas. I learned this while pregnant and I followed it with both kids.

Santa brings THREE presents and a stocking filled with little items. These could be big or little ticket items.

Mom and dad give ONE present. Some years it’s a big ticket item other years it’s something small depending on the budget.

This then negates the need to have bigger and bigger Xmas each year and keeps the budget in check for me.

Now that my kids are 12/14 they tell me they appreciate and cherish the special things I did at Xmas over the gifts. Think about it….a 4yr old is not going to remember when they’re 18/22/44 what they got. They’ll remember the magic.

Also there’s no shame in wrapping up socks or a box of cheerios or even wrapping up a toy in the closet they forgot about. I’ve had to do it all during tough times.

BUT what they truly remember is what we did all throughout December:

Make the experience Christmas not the presents under the trees.”