It's that time of year again...the one parents simultaneously love and hate. You are SO excited about the decorations, celebrating the true meaning of the season, spending time with family and giving gifts to the ones you love. Unfortunately, with all the planning, shopping and wrapping comes a whole lot of stress, a whole lot of figuring out how to make the best of the holidays and a whole lot of STUFF.

So how do we do it?

How do we celebrate a holiday where our culture tells us we should bring TONS of new items into our home?

We struggled with Christmas for yeeeeears. We'd spend money on toys that would break within a week, magically disappear or get surpassed by the box they came in. We knew we needed to figure out a different way to do Christmas.

So.... we did!!

Here's how it breaks down for The Mayes Team:

 EACH KID RECEIVES:
  1. Something they want.
  2. Something they need.
  3. Something to give.
  4. Something to read.

Four gifts.

That's it.

We have celebrated Christmas this way for the past 3 years and it WORKS! Now, we know this may not work for everyone and we're just sharing with you what works for us! Because our kids know that this is how we do Christmas, we avoid the inevitable whining and complaining when they don't receive what they want or not enough.

SOMETHING THEY WANT:

They let us know what they want the most, the number one gift that will blow their mind! Now that we are living in a tiny house we really lean towards giving experiences over gifts. We've all experienced dropping a bunch of cash on a plastic toy that ended up in the trash weeks later so we decided to invest in higher quality gifts or experiences.

Here are a few ideas for a gift a kid these days may WANT:

You can click the names below to check out the details on each of these gift ideas:

1. Lego Star Wars Set
2. Tegu Magnetic Wooden Block Set
3. Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Instant Film Camera
4. Lewo Wooden Tool Toys Pretend Play Toolbox
5. Plan Toys Tea Set
6. Mantis Folding Bicycle

SOMETHING THEY NEED:

This could be any host of things. One year our son needed storage for his Lego collection, another was hair clips and bows for our girl. We try to keep it fun (avoiding socks and underwear) but it HAS to be something they genuinely need.

A few cool ideas that a Kid may NEED are:

You can click the names below to check out the details on each of these gift ideas:

7. Herschel Heritage Youth Backpack
8. Play&Go Drawstring Play Mat
9. LANGUGU Waterproof Cosmetic Bag
10. Lego Storage Brick
11. Fill-in Journal for Kids

SOMETHING TO GIVE:

We talk as a family about someone that they want to give a gift to for Christmas. They get to choose who it is and what they want to give. It is SO important to teach our kids that the holidays are not just about receiving. We try to have them give away the gift on Christmas Day so they fully experience both giving and receiving.

Here are a few gifts that our kids are wanting to GIVE :

You can click the names below to check out the details on each of these gift ideas:

12. Easy Cross Stitch Patterns
13. Magnum Pocket Knife
14. Speak Out Game
15. Art Lab for Kids
16. Letters to My Grandchild
17. The Puffin in Bloom Collection

SOMETHING TO READ

This one is easy.... We get them whatever the newest book is that they are into. We LOVE to get hardcover books (which last longer) or sets of books so they can collect them all throughout the course of the year. One year our oldest wanted a "real" Bible so he got hooked up! We love, love, love it when our kids beg us for a book! It feels like a good parent move to have them anticipate the gift of a book! =)

Here are a few books that we're considering for them READ :

You can click the names below to check out the details on each of these gift ideas:

18. The Chronicles of Narnia Box Set
19. Rosie Revere
20. How to Code in 10 Easy Lessons
21. God is Really Good
22. Storybook Bible
23. The Little Mermaid

The holidays are also a difficult time to navigate receiving gifts from family members. We've been lucky to have parents who fully support this journey but we know that most aren't so lucky. We most definitely ask family members to focus on experience when it comes to buying our kids gifts. One of our kids all time favorite gift has been the storybooks that family members can record reading to you. We also encourage them to be creative with gift cards!

Movie passes, Jump Zones, Manicures, Fancy Dinners...there's so many fun things that can be given as a gift card!

For example:

You can click the names below to check out the details on each of these gift ideas:

24. Movie Ticket Gift Card
25. Recordable Storybook
26. Makeup Gift Card
27. Manicure Gift Card
28. Gift Cards

When it comes to celebrating Christmas as a family the most important this to us is the reason for the season. We talk a lot about the birth of Jesus and how God sent His son to earth on our behalf. We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas this year and it's filled with tons of laughter, good times and true peace.

Blessings to you all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Gabriel & Debbie