We work very hard not to go overboard on the Christmas presents at our house. Christmas is about the birth of Christ, not the lining of the pockets of various large corporations.
To this end, our goal has always been to have Christmas week together, as a family, spending that most precious gift of all - TIME.
We go to church and have our big Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve.
We make at least one present for each person.
Anything we buy, we buy from a small local business. I have fewer problems supporting our locally owned businesses than I do with, say, Wal-Mart.
We spend a lot of time together.
We go into Washington DC to visit the museums, the Kennedy Center (for the free performances), and visit the national tree after dark.
(We come home exhausted, too.)
We play very long games of Monopoly, and Spades, and Uno.
We plan a movie marathon. (This year, it will be the Hobbit movies before we go see the Battle of the Five Armies in the theater.)
We laugh a lot.
We spend time with extended family. Maybe not on Christmas Day, but sometime between now and New Year's Day, we will spend time with all of our extended local family.
We drive around and look at Christmas Lights.
This year, I splurged and bought tickets for a play over break. It will be a great chance to get dressed up, head into the city, and spend time supporting the arts. We're meeting up with friends while we're there, and we are going to go out together for dinner after.
Our kids will still get presents. There's a pile under the tree, consisting of books, clothes, and kitchen stuff for the kid who will be moving out into his own apartment this year.
But the memories of the time spent together. NOTHING can replace that!
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