As the month to honor the holiday symbols and gifts from Kwanzaa, to Hanukkah, to Christmas, December is a season of reflection, of miracles, and of giving.
Though some say the economic recovery is not as sluggish as many believed, unemployment persists. This year, our family is digging deeper into our imaginations than our wallets – focusing less on “things” and more on intangible gifts:
• Hope—A small, thoughtful gesture to others when times are hard gives as much to the giver as to the recipient. A young officer in Iraq on Christmas Eve made sure to “play Santa” for his homesick soldiers by stuffing their boots with the contents of his care packages from home.
• Values—Model the behaviors you want in your children. Don’t go into debt at holiday time. After Santa leaves a lighter load around the tree, decide as a family how to help your church, or a local charity; your gift need not be monetary.
• Time— What can we each give family member that costs only time? Stay with the baby so the new parents can go out? Refinish a piece of furniture? Work with a child to help with spring gardening, or paint the garage?
• Reading—Choose a book with special significance for each child at holiday time, or subscribe to a magazine according to interest. Both will motivate young readers! Limit TV and electronic game time. Suggest a book you’ve read, then talk about it together.
• Traditions—Enjoy friends and neighbors by attending the signature seasonal events in your community. Give tickets to something you can do together. Share the special foods or customs that connect a family, and link generations.
• Memories—The more of these you make together, the more will be retold as family lore, oral history, or perhaps become the basis of a book.
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