Create Holiday Memories Instead of Debt

Christmas on an already stretched budget often losses some of the joy the holiday should bring to families. Instead of focusing on gifts, help your family create treasured holiday traditions by keeping it simple this year. Whatever you do, don't throw your monthly budget out the window as the holiday gets closer. You may feel you are providing something special for your kids on Christmas morning, but the stress of too many extra bills will catch up to you in January. Here are some thought-starters to help you discover ways to bring the real magic back to Christmas.

What message do you want to share about the holidays? Step back and get some perspective before the Christmas pressures begin to build. Think about the message you really want to give your kids about giving. Is it about the presents? If it is, then infuse more meaning into gift giving by making your own. Children of all ages can create unique gifts using items found around the house or inexpensive items purchased from a store such as paper, glue, glitter and other materials. Join in and use whatever skills you have to create gifts for your children.

Create annual traditions. Get your family together to bake and assemble a gingerbread house. Kids of all ages, you included mom, will cherish the finished house and the time you spent together making it. Take a photo of the family gathered around the gingerbread house and make a holiday album to look at year after year. If building houses isn't for you, how about caroling with your kids around the neighborhood? Show them how delighted others are with simple joyful acts like singing.

Keeping with the spirit of making your own Christmas gifts, spend a Saturday baking with your kids. Make a variety of cookies, breads or other treats and use these as gifts for relatives and friends. Involve your kids in making festive baskets filled with the baked goods and then personally deliver them. Setting aside a day to bake is a tradition you can begin this year and continue for many years to come.

Focus on the meaning of the holidays. Help your kids focus on the meaning of the holiday by going to the local library to have them research stories related to your religious practice. They can even illustrate their own storybooks to give as gifts or to recite to friends and family. Help your kids look beyond the glitz and lights to the rich seasonal stories that ultimately will offer them far more lasting personal benefits.

Share with others. Regardless of your family situation, there is always something that can be shared with others. Get your kids brainstorming on ways your family can give back to others in the community. Can you spend an afternoon serving meals to those in need? How about a little yard work or housework for a homebound friend or family member? You'll be teaching your children what giving is really all about.

While it may take some time for your kids to get used to a shift in focus from piles of gifts to more meaningful ways to celebrate, it will be these experiences they remember into their adult lives and will want to recreate with their children. Now, that's a legacy worth thinking about this year.