Have you noticed? The spirit of giving traditionally associated with Christmas and Hanukkah in our culture has turned into a spirit of selfishness and competition. (“Can I top the gift he gave me last year?”) We are too busy finding perfect gifts and throwing elaborate parties to enjoy baking cookies with our families or caroling in the neighborhood. After the holidays, we feel drained, overspent, and overloaded with gifts we will never use.
This year, why not stop trying to have the biggest and best holiday and focus instead on reviving the spirit of giving? Many people have real needs – medical, financial, and educational – that you can help meet by giving from your own abundance. Start a new family tradition of giving the gift of charity during December. Agree to give up one gift each and donate the money saved to a charity you choose as a family. Then plan to work together, volunteering to help others in your community during the month of December.
In addition to helping others and reducing clutter, giving to others during December is a great way to remind yourself about the things that truly matter in life. The joy of working with your family members to help others is far more valuable than the light-up tie or singing Santa Claus you may receive from someone who has run out of ideas for something to buy you.
As you sit down to choose a charity, get to know each other better by discussing why you want to help a particular cause. Does your father support a children’s hospital because his best friend died of cancer when he was eight? Does your daughter want to give to a home-building organization because her teacher told her about his trip to the Gulf Coast to help with hurricane relief? Maybe you can even plan to give money to one cause while devoting family volunteer time to another favorite charity. Whatever you choose to do, giving as a family will create stronger family bonds than any made by tearing off wrapping paper to reveal yet another “some assembly required” toy that will wind up in next year’s yard sale.
Bring back the spirit of giving this December. The rewards will be intangible but valuable.