David wrote me an email highlighting some of the things that the Saunders clan does over Christmas to help live into meaning of the year a little differently than many of our traditions.
You can bring this up at youth, but something that my extended family has been doing lately is instead of getting a huge gift for each other, they each donate what they want/can to their favorite charity and then talk about that on Christmas day, as well as still exchanging small gifts like books/cds.
You could encourage the kids to have a donation made in their name (even if it’s not the only “gift” they receive). I am donating money to pay for 2 biosand filters for Bloodwater Mission (as well as asking for another one on to be donated on top of that instead of receiving a gift) to send to Africa and provide clean water for two families for up to 20 years. You can find little ways to cut back on consumerism in your Christmas, even if it doesn’t eliminate it.
-David
