tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782792124434572025.post5411241667494572756..comments2008-12-19T08:50:10.629-05:00CityKinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068481950069401281noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782792124434572025.post-70620530154348213612008-12-19T08:50:10.629-05:002008-12-19T08:50:10.629-05:00<I>I like the idea of him giving away something of his own to people who are more in need.</I><BR/><BR/>I remember doing this when I was about four, and only pretending to be okay with it. Then, a year or later, I figured out why this was so important and decided that it was something I actually wanted to do. By that point, I was ahead of the curve in terms of giving, so I felt pretty mature about it. It makes to be consistent with your family's holiday traditions, and I think it's okay for kids to grow into their understanding of those traditions.VisuaLingualhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05940655509018040523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782792124434572025.post-7874821944733967082008-12-18T21:43:52.766-05:002008-12-18T21:43:52.766-05:00I don't know if you're religious or not, but I'm Catholic, and it helps me to view the weeks leading up to Christmas as preparation, and then you have the 12 days of Christmas to celebrate the holiday. We do an Advent wreath with our kids and lighting those candles every night helps to slow time down. Also, we get some hay and every night we take turns putting a piece of hay in the middle of the wreath and saying what we did to help prepare for Jesus' birth that day--whether we were nice to friends or cooked an extra-special meal, etc. We tell them (they're 5 and 7) that we need to do lots of nice things during Advent to make sure Jesus has a nice soft bed when he's born. The only downside is that baby Jesus is currently MIA from the Nativity set! I'll need to scramble to find him in the next week...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782792124434572025.post-7294420456471294942008-12-18T13:25:27.363-05:002008-12-18T13:25:27.363-05:00We try to concentrate on activities together, like baking cookies and skating, but even so our kids are exhibiting some troubling signs of the gimmiegimmie syndrome, and I think you are right to try to put the kibosh on it early. We pretty much try to have ONE big present from Santa. The only problem is it son decides the ONE thing he really wants is something your really don't want to get, such as a pet.CityKinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068481950069401281noreply@blogger.com