How to Spend Little and Get the Most Out of Christmas

Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas season is well on its way. Stores are frantically running sales. The newspaper is heavy laden with advertisements. The kids have a long list for Santa and the grownups are frazzled. It's the time of year when everyone wants to give and often find themselves spending way above their means. My husband and I are among those who have been caught up in the Christmas trap.

But, we have found some ways to make the season more meaningful and less expensive. Here are some of those ideas:

1. Our most memorable Christmas took place when we had very little money at all. We decided to take a page out of our great grandparents book and instead of purchasing gifts we made them. Even the little ones took pride in the things that they had given us and each other.

2. My in-laws have a great way of cutting down on the costs of giving presents. Instead of everyone trying to figure out what everyone wants and going out and spending hundreds of dollars on presents; they have a grab bag give-away. Everyone goes to the dollar store and buys items for the grab bag. The presents are wrapped up and then everyone picks their gift from the grab bag. It is great fun. If someone gets a present that may be inappropriate (one year a guy got a box of tampons) they simply trade with someone else. You end up getting a lot little things that you need and a lot of laughs to go along with it.

There is a separate bag for the kids and the babies and very small children get their own presents.

3. My kids always come me with a long list of presents. So one year, I had the children go through their toy box and pick out the toys that they no longer use. Then I went through those toys and found those that were in good condition. Together my children and I visited the local orphanage and gave all those toys to kids that had little of their own. It was the best present that I had ever given my kids because they learned the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas doesn't have to be a race to see who can spend the most. The most valuable gift any of us have to give is our love to one another.