Christmas

I was reading a story about a couple who lived through The Great Depression. They were married at the time of the writing, but were children during the depression. The husband told of how finances were so tight one year that he had no Christmas. He spent his Christmas evening cutting pictures from magazines. The wife almost cried at hearing that.

While money might have been just as tight for her and her family, she was thankful for the great imagination of her parents. For on one of her most memorable Christmases , she received a tiny cupboard made from three wooden cheese boxes. And inside the drawers were doll dresses her mother had cut out for her to sew together by hand. Her mother had wisely given her something to do, rather than sewing the dresses herself, thereby stretching out Christmas a little more.

Being the frugal mom I am, I already have all the Christmas gifts for the kids this year. In talking to my husband, we will be making these gifts last at least two Christmases. I mean honestly, the kids do not need all those gifts, and definitely not all at the same time. It will be good for them, and us, to move away from the materialism and more towards gratefulness.