Why we decided to not encourage our kids to write letters to Santa

Now I’m sure that I’m going to get a lot of feedback on this…..maybe even hate mail! BUT, I feel this is important and would like you to hear me out…😉

So, this year we decided that our 4 Freckled Faces were not going to write letters to Santa/Father Christmas, and list everything they would like to get given for Christmas. The reason is this – we don’t want our kids thinking that Christmas is all about getting gifts and asking for things you want. In ‘The Grinch’ it says –

Maybe Christmas perhaps, doesn’t come from a store.

Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.

Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s about giving. It is a time to switch off, or at least turn down all the noise and hustle and bustle; all the distractions of life and focus on what and who is important. It is in NO WAY about how much we spend or how many gifts we get. We felt like they were becoming a bit too entitled ….and that is a dangerous mindset!

So many ….TOO MANY people find themselves in debt after Christmas. I’ve heard it said that January is the most depressing month of the year. People put this down to people being in debt after Christmas because they spent too much money trying to make others happy. Whilst I love the concept of making others happy, I don’t love that people are willing to get into debt to do that. We can make others happy at no cost at all or very little cost.

Instead of asking our kids what they want for Christmas and them writing a list, we have been trying to focus on what they would like to do for, or give to other people… something they could make, etc.

Last year we spoke to the kids about what they would like to give others, and they made the decision to give some of the money we spend on them at Christmas to charity. I cannot tell you how proud that made us! That was such a great present to us. To listen to and see them think and decide on what they want to give to others….. it made my Christmas! This year, well I’ll let them tell you in their blog posts what they decided to give people this year.

So, while we may sound mean…our intentions are good! Plus, they really haven’t been bothered by not writing those letters. We know them and know what they would like and what they need. They will have a couple things to open Christmas day so don’t worry, we’re not really mean!

What do you think? Are we mean??