For the past, oh three years, I’ve been trying to clean out my basement that is a land of misfit toys and activities. It’s where the loud, battery operated, messy, and too-big-for-our-living-room toys go to live.
Every time I get motivated to weed out just one tiny space down there, I’m reminded of how difficult it is too get rid of things. About a month before Christmas I went though one of these binge phases that resulted in two measly trips to Goodwill.
Also, every time I do this I go on an anti-buying anything except toilet paper kick because I don’t want one more blasted thing to step over, pick up or find that the dog chewed it to pieces.
So standing in my basement that spans the entire footprint of our house, I started to dread buying my kids anything for Christmas when they already have way too much as it is. I ruled out giving them anything big. And I decided to resist my own ideas that Santa had to produce some awe-striking amazing gift and leave a room full of loot overflowing around the tree.
Christmas could still be magical, in a kid’s eyes, without all the stuff – I hoped!
I gave in to some of the things my oldest daughter asked for in her letters to Santa, which she wrote for her and her little sisters. It was sweet. And I want her to believe in Santa.
At our house we have a large red Santa bag that gets left with the gifts. Never have all the gifts even come CLOSE to fitting in the one bag for three kids. This year they all fit!
My husband was a little hesitant of my plan of not having some big shebang for them to find on Christmas morning. There was no trampoline waiting outside, or playhouses or new bikes.
Instead there was a vintage Underwood Olivetti blue typewriter for my oldest girl and a box I decorated for her stories, as well as two sewn bags for extra typewriter ribbon and white eraser pencils.
For the little girls we added a new market stand to their kitchen play area. Then I spruced up the old kitchen set up with newly sewn curtains, tablecloths and a liner in their grocery cart. Plus I rearranged all our play food and dishes, and set up the market using most of the food we already had. (There is a photo in this post.)
Many of the presents under tree were handmade items. They were trinkets from this project and that drawing, or just bits of cut up paper – five-year-old style – put into reusable gift bags from previous occasions. Then there was boots and books all about snow, for our upcoming trip to visit my brother who lives in Aspen, Colorado. Buying five plane tickets was our big Christmas shebang!
But would the girls see it this way? We still wondered nervously about how Christmas morning would all play out, considering how they were used to being showered upon by Santa.
Aside from being awoken at 5:15 IN THE MORNING and watching them happily opening presents for thirty minutes before I even had a chance to get my FIRST cup of coffee – I must report the morning was wonderful and did not lack in any big shebang.
My middle girl, in her constant quirky ways, reminded me again that really it is the little things that make us happy. The thing she wanted most from Santa was her “own” beach ball. Santa deliverered a box of 12 small beach balls and she was absolutely thrilled about it.
So who would have guessed? A box of mini beach balls, some rearranged play food and an old typewriter made Christmas morning a success.
Yes, sometimes less is more.
I try to teach my girls, and show them by example, that not everything has to come from a traditional store – and in fact most of the best stuff comes our hearts and from our hands.
So that night at our Christmas dinner table, I got my Christmas gift when my oldest daughter said, “I really like giving gifts better than ‘retrieving’ them because when I give them it makes two people happy instead of just one.”
She went on to add, “I really like giving homemade gifts. Especially when people appreciate all the hard work I put into it.”
So if you see me soon, I’ll probably be wearing a finger knit scarf made by my seven-year-old, who wrapped it in a birthday bag and was over the moon happy about getting a vintage blue typewriter that really worked.
Her thoughtfulness and insight made my Christmas one big shebang.
