This Christmas
This Christmas my sisters; Aria and Rochelle have made a decision to purchase books, second hand items or creative materials for the gifting to our nieces and nephews to ensure that our children begin to enjoy a more sustainable and grounded Christmas experience.
On my husband's side, this year, with some of our Australian based family away, we are shopping for two nieces, two nephews and our own two boys. They are 21, 5, 4, 2 and a bit, one will turn 3 on Christmas Eve and a very soon to be 2 year old.
Our own two boys will receive, in addition to their 'aunty and uncle gifts'; a "Santa gift" each, some drawing materials, two books each, a puzzle each and a toy each, from us. This is so ample, but is admittedly a little less than their previous Christmas' and I have to consciously fight my 'will this be enough' inner voice that frequently pops up when I am enjoying my Pinterest or Instagram feed.
I am a lover of children's picture books so for each of our nieces and nephews, we have carefully selected a yummy book to enjoy.
I am both excited to make this change in how we acknowledge each other and our children, and am nervous at the same time.
I am nervous because, until now, all of our children have always been gifted with toys. And as unsustainable and unethical as many mass manufactured toys are, it is (guiltily) exciting to witness your children ecstatic over a plastic fantastic gift that they have received.
I am nervous, because although a book is loved for a long time and enjoyed over and over again, for young children who are used to receiving toys, books don't quite demand that same instant climatic excitement upon opening. Again, the inner voice of; "will this be enough" is needing to be constantly challenged.
As a family, we are deciding to create a new normal for our children moving forward and for that I am so excited. Choosing to change and shift as opposed to continue to be caught up in the craze of consumerism and quantity is something that I am grateful for and extremely proud of.
In this decision for Christmas 2018, I have also become more aware of how every norm we create for our children is a direct reflection of our own adult desires, drives or insecurities. With gifting as no exception. A gift should be a sentiment. Something special to celebrate and acknowledge a person on a special day. So in this regard, it should always be quality, sentiment and thought that is more important than quantity and over the top spoils. However, in this instance for example, I am having to constantly challenge my own adult insecurities of whether or not a gift is worthy. In previous Christmas' I have indulged the insecurity and ended up adding a quick KMART top up of quick-to-break items to ensure a more delighted present opening response, however, time and time again, these items are so short lived that it isn't even funny. This Christmas, I am nervous but ever so excited to consciously align with our families newly shared vision.
I am also excited because creating and reading are such delicious things in life so fostering this through our gifting to our children is just so cool.
When you gift a book, you are gifting new life and material to the time spent between child and reader. At 30, I still have such fond memories of being read to as a child and LOVE reading to my children as part of our evening routine. Books are also, the epitome of delayed gratification, as the true enjoyment comes with the reading of the book, and is not all tied to the immediate opening of the gift. This too is so important for our children to experience.
When we gift materials to create with we are providing opportunities to be creative and we foster imagination and engagement.
When we lean towards second hand gifting, it demonstrates that not all things that are brand new, are best. It shows our children, that our natural world is important and it teaches our children that other people's unwanted resources can be utilised by other people.
This Christmas is the first of many in creating and maintaining a sustainable and thoughtful celebration that focusses more on family and steps away from the consumer extravaganza that surrounds us and although I am nervous this year, I hope that next year I am less so.
What shifts are you making towards a more heart centred Christmas?
On my husband's side, this year, with some of our Australian based family away, we are shopping for two nieces, two nephews and our own two boys. They are 21, 5, 4, 2 and a bit, one will turn 3 on Christmas Eve and a very soon to be 2 year old.
Our own two boys will receive, in addition to their 'aunty and uncle gifts'; a "Santa gift" each, some drawing materials, two books each, a puzzle each and a toy each, from us. This is so ample, but is admittedly a little less than their previous Christmas' and I have to consciously fight my 'will this be enough' inner voice that frequently pops up when I am enjoying my Pinterest or Instagram feed.
I am a lover of children's picture books so for each of our nieces and nephews, we have carefully selected a yummy book to enjoy.
I am both excited to make this change in how we acknowledge each other and our children, and am nervous at the same time.
I am nervous because, until now, all of our children have always been gifted with toys. And as unsustainable and unethical as many mass manufactured toys are, it is (guiltily) exciting to witness your children ecstatic over a plastic fantastic gift that they have received.
I am nervous, because although a book is loved for a long time and enjoyed over and over again, for young children who are used to receiving toys, books don't quite demand that same instant climatic excitement upon opening. Again, the inner voice of; "will this be enough" is needing to be constantly challenged.
As a family, we are deciding to create a new normal for our children moving forward and for that I am so excited. Choosing to change and shift as opposed to continue to be caught up in the craze of consumerism and quantity is something that I am grateful for and extremely proud of.
In this decision for Christmas 2018, I have also become more aware of how every norm we create for our children is a direct reflection of our own adult desires, drives or insecurities. With gifting as no exception. A gift should be a sentiment. Something special to celebrate and acknowledge a person on a special day. So in this regard, it should always be quality, sentiment and thought that is more important than quantity and over the top spoils. However, in this instance for example, I am having to constantly challenge my own adult insecurities of whether or not a gift is worthy. In previous Christmas' I have indulged the insecurity and ended up adding a quick KMART top up of quick-to-break items to ensure a more delighted present opening response, however, time and time again, these items are so short lived that it isn't even funny. This Christmas, I am nervous but ever so excited to consciously align with our families newly shared vision.
I am also excited because creating and reading are such delicious things in life so fostering this through our gifting to our children is just so cool.
When you gift a book, you are gifting new life and material to the time spent between child and reader. At 30, I still have such fond memories of being read to as a child and LOVE reading to my children as part of our evening routine. Books are also, the epitome of delayed gratification, as the true enjoyment comes with the reading of the book, and is not all tied to the immediate opening of the gift. This too is so important for our children to experience.
When we gift materials to create with we are providing opportunities to be creative and we foster imagination and engagement.
When we lean towards second hand gifting, it demonstrates that not all things that are brand new, are best. It shows our children, that our natural world is important and it teaches our children that other people's unwanted resources can be utilised by other people.
This Christmas is the first of many in creating and maintaining a sustainable and thoughtful celebration that focusses more on family and steps away from the consumer extravaganza that surrounds us and although I am nervous this year, I hope that next year I am less so.
What shifts are you making towards a more heart centred Christmas?
These are a few photos that make me feel less nervous about choosing to step away from buying toys for the beloved children in our family this Christmas.
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