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Children love to open gifts. They can slash and shred open any package, even with those insane zip-ties that bolt the toy right to the box! On average, a kid takes less than 45 seconds to unwrap and evaluate a gift, set it aside and grab another package that may (or may not) have their name on the tag. After every box under the tree lays bare, little Johnny and Susie tornado through mounds of shredded paper and ribbons asking, “Is that all? Are there any more?”

 

I once witnessed a gift-frenzy like this before I had children—it was a “Grandchildren’s Christmas” where Grandma and Grandpa lavished the kids with presents. No sooner was one gift opened than another was handed to them. It seemed to be a letdown when the pile was finally gone.

 

On our way home, my husband and I discussed how we would handle Christmas, gift-overload, and Santa when we had kids. And the idea of three gifts at Christmas was born. The longer we talked about it, the more sense it made. After all, it’s Jesus’ birth we’re celebrating—and He received only three gifts. Why have more? Even if we could, did we want to splurge on gifts and risk losing sight of Christmas?

 

Then our own children came along. We discovered we weren’t the perfect parents we’d been before kids and can I say, sticking to three gifts was a lot harder than I thought. Your kids have a wish list too, right? Nearly everything in the Toys R Us catalog got circled; they absolutely could not live without it. Little girls must have dolls and strollers and play kitchens and pink tricycles and ruffle-bottomed clothes. Little boys need bikes and trains and cars and nerf guns and erector sets and Lincoln Logs! How would we ever be able to choose just three gifts each? But we did. No more impulse buying. Plan ahead and stick to our plan.

 

What about Santa? For our family, we decided not to make a big deal about it. We didn’t give them presents from Santa, but they wrote him letters and insisted they heard him at night. Sometimes you just have to let them be little.

 

Preparing our kids for “just three gifts” started with the Christmas story in Luke 2. We enjoyed reading and talking about it all through the season. Family devotion time is a wonderful time to talk about why we celebrate Christmas, and so are ordinary, everyday moments—when you see a nativity in someone’s yard, or just waiting in a drive-through line. “What did the wise men bring to Jesus?” I would ask. “How many gifts did Jesus get? Do we really need more than three?”

 

We had these conversations year after year, several times during the Christmas season. Once when my son was still very young, I asked what the wise men gave Jesus. Levi answered, “Gold… frankincense . . . and, um, I can’t remember.” I told him that Jesus got myrrh, and I explained what each item represented. It felt like I was making great spiritual ground with my four-year-old until he replied, “Why didn’t Jesus just get a bike? I want a bike—I don’t want myrrh!” He told everyone that year (including Santa) that he did not want myrrh.

 

Our kids are sixteen and eighteen now. They no longer circle their favorites in the Toys R Us catalog. But they still receive three gifts, and they still talk about Jesus’ birth and why we celebrate Christmas. We still enjoy reading the Christmas story together in Luke 2. And yes, they still write a letter to Santa and leave it out with cookies and milk just after we get home from the Christmas Eve service at church.

 

There are so many great ways to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, whether you give one gift or ten. What matters is taking time to talk with your kids about Jesus, His birth, the gifts He received, and the gifts He gives.

 

“Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up” (Deuteronomy 11:19 NLT).

 

Oh, and by the way, there is nothing wrong with a “Grandchildren’s Christmas.” As a parent, you have your gift-giving rules. Just be willing to throw them out the window when it comes to the grandparents. They can do whatever they want.