By Sherrie Le Masurier
Despite your family financial situation, the holiday season doesn’t have to leave a bad taste in your mouth and a hole in your pocketbook. It all comes down to having a positive outlook about what you have as opposed to what you don’t. Instead of your glass ‘of life’ being half empty, consider it to be half full. Okay, so you’re financially strapped this year and can’t create your image of the ‘perfect’ Christmas. Now I don’t mean to be crass, but ditch the perfect myth! Look on the bright side and turn things around to what you CAN do. Looking at the holiday in a negative light is not only self-defeating and depressing but it can catch on. Why pull friends and family down with your misery? Never forget for a minute how children are like sponges. They pick up on everything and will form opinions based on how their parents handle problems and challenges. Granted, you wish you could give them more financially but for now you can’t, so face the fact you will have to cut some corners. Put on a smile and let’s get started… Use What You Have
Look upon your financial downfall as being a blessing in disguise – an opportunity to do things differently – a chance to find the kind of Christmas that comes from the heart, not the pocketbook. First and foremost, you need to use what you have. By this I mean both material possessions and natural talent. Be creative. Grab a pen and paper and spend some time brainstorming. Some Christmas music may help inspire you. Most radio stations run Christmas carols starting in early December, so tune in your local station and get creative. Here are some ideas that may provide a little inspiration: Decorate With Nature Look outdoors for seasonal decorating materials - evergreen boughs, pinecones and vines are a great start to creating a festive backdrop. Find Recipe & Craft Ideas In Your Kitchen Raid your refrigerator for both recipe and craft ingredients. Give Something New Life With A Few Stitches For those truly artistic, rummage through your closets and storage areas to find old clothes or scraps of fabric that can be turned into gift bags or unique stockings. Or give old items new life – add a little fabric paint to a plain sweatshirt or beads to a denim jacket. Create A Little Mending Magic If your home is anything like mine, chances are good, you may even be able to unearth long forgotten items in need of mending. What a great gift it would be for your husband to finally have that extra pair of casual pants mended or the buttons on his favorite overcoat replaced. Old Toys See New Life As Hand-Me-Downs Dig through the basement to find old toys that may be broken, outgrown or simply forgotten. Give them a new life with a little TLC and they may make a wonderful gift for a young niece or nephew. Consider their age and how much they may enjoy receiving their cousin’s dollhouse with all its furniture as a gift. Many kids think it’s a big deal to get a ‘hand me down’ from an older child they look up to. Give Photos A New Home In Treasured Albums And, while you’re in the basement, do you have any loose photos that could be put in a scrapbook for a loved one? Most dollar stores sell inexpensive photo albums and scrapbooks. Be creative and come up with a gift that will be long remembered and forever cherished. We did this for my husband’s Grandma Mary one year. We purchased an inexpensive album, covered it in fabric and compiled a collection of old black and white photos of her, her (deceased) husband and their grandchildren. And you know - I think it was one of the best gifts anyone could have given her. The way it brought tears to her eyes (and ours) will be with us always. One of my favorite ideas is giving imaginary gifts. Tell each other in detail what you would have bought for them if you had the money. It never hurts to dream… Reduce The Number of Gifts You’re GivingWith things as tight as they are this year, now is the perfect time to scale back on gift giving in general. Talk to your friends and family with whom you normally exchange. What about starting a name draw or challenging each other to come up with more thoughtful, low cost gifts or those that are strictly homemade? A few will probably thank you for being the first to bring the subject up. Others will bock at the idea. Stand firm and say you want to de-emphasize the commercialism of it all and get back to the real meaning of the season. Don’t try to convert anyone - just let them be. The bottom line is do what you feel is right for your family. If giving many gifts to young children is important to you, you can still find ways to create a balance. Many dollar stores have some wonderful items ideal for little ones. Small one dollar gifts individually wrapped will give the impression of abundance under your tree. Young kids especially are more apt to notice the number of presents over how expensive they are. It all depends on how you want your Christmas to play itself out and what message you want to send your kids about the holidays. You can also do away with traditional gift giving completely by gifting your time instead. This Christmas, consider spending time not money. Parents with young children would probably really appreciate the gift of babysitting. Elderly friends and relatives almost always enjoy a visit over a gift that comes in a box. Start
Some New Traditions
Sometimes starting new traditions can alleviate the frustration over not being able to do the holidays the same way you have always done. Instead of focusing on how much you won’t be able to do and how little money you have to spend, give some thought to how much time you have and how many fun things you still can do with your loved ones. Consider things you may never have taken the time to do before, because you either bought them something instead or sought out the kind of entertainment that came with a price tag. You don’t even have to share with your children the need to look for cheaper ways to spend time together. Chances are good, they will be having too much fun anyway to notice you aren’t spending money. And, if things do look better financially next Christmas, you may still want to give some thought to holding onto some of your new cost-effective traditions – your family may even thank you for it. String Popcorn Sure you’ve heard about stringing popcorn but have you ever done it? Try it, it can really be a great family bonding activity. Hold a Cookie Party Take the afternoon and bake some cookies with the kids. Make some with holes (use straw ends in the uncooked dough) and ribbons (or yarn) for decorating the tree. Watch a Holiday Program on TV Sure, the kids may have watched the original Charlie Brown’s Christmas or The Grinch Who Stole Christmas dozens of times but how many times have you actually sat down and enjoyed these classics together? Check out your local listings and make a plan to view some holiday specials as a family. Rent A Holiday Classic Treat your kids and yourself to a real movie experience with a B&W classic like It’s A Wonderful Life or the original Miracle on 34th Street. The kid’s may have see the remake but rent the original to give them an appreciation of both versions. Pop some popcorn and sit back and enjoy. Or, check out the video collection at your local library. Chances are good, you will find a good selection of holiday classics on the shelf. Attend A Community Tree-Lighting Ceremony If your community has an annual tree-lighting ceremony, take the kids – even if it’s past their bedtimes - after all, this is a once a year event. If there is carolling afterwards, stay for that too. There is nothing better than a few Christmas carols to get you in the spirit of the season. Go To Church Even if your family aren’t regular church goers – you shouldn’t miss the sense of community and true meaning of the season by staying at home. Candlelight services in particular, can really warm the soul and renew one’s faith. Help Out Others Who Are Also Down On Their Luck Okay so things are financially tougher this year and you can’t give out your normal charity donations. Think again. True unselfish giving comes not from the pocketbook, but from inside you. Help serve up the turkey and stuffing at a local shelter and get the kids involved. Now, I’m not talking misery loves company here. I’m talking about sharing in the season and helping others as well as pulling yourself out of any negativity surrounding not having things the way you envision them to be. |