Christmas can be a very challenging and stressful time for parents when money is in short supply. Many parents feel that they have failed in some way when they have to say to their children that Santa probably can't afford that particular present this year because the elves are also caught up in this world financial crises and there's not enough money to buy enough ingredients to make all those things this year.
Don't let the kids asking for things you can't honestly afford to buy them for presents get you down. That is not what Christmas is about, never has been or ever will be. Christmas is a time to give gifts with love, not with the thought that you are going to be 'in hock' for the next six months to pay for something. Christmas is a time of love and sharing the good things in life and those 'good things' aren't often about expensive presents.
Christmas stockings need to be filled with love and joy, not 'whiz-bang gadgets' that get put aside as soon as the next present comes along. The kids will rarely remember any of those gifts but what they will always remember is the way in which they were given
If you give with love it will always be remembered for the rest of their lives.
How do you give love in a Christmas stocking? Easy ~ fill it with thoughtful little inexpensive items that are fun, tasty, pretty, different, funny or really related to a special interest they have in something. If the child is old enough to read then find a special book in a book exchange library that they have enjoyed or buy them comics instead of books.
If you have 2-3 children, you don't have to give the kids full packets of sweets/candies/lollies each; get a bunch of packets, mix them all together in a big bowl and sprinkle them among pretty, coloured cellophane paper that you have added into the stocking to 'bulk' it out. As the kids pull out the stocking filler and hear the crinkling, cracking and see the candies/lollies/sweets fall out from between the sheets of paper, they 'feel' that they have received presents.
And once they see how well packed it is with thoughtful little 'bits-n-pieces', they will know that "Santa" spent time to do that for them and so they know it was done with love. This is the truly irreplaceable, always remembered gift.
