Christmas Gift Buying with Meaning

January 3, 2014


If you've read my blog for long you know that we do Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh gifts at Christmas time.

I tend to get a lot of questions about this so I figured this would be my reference post.

Jonathan LOVES gift buying and so do I but I get bogged down at Christmas time with the feeling of excess!  I know I can't be the only one.  So, I've known a few people who have done this and we adopted the idea for our family as well.

It's really simple, focuses your shopping, and you can pretty much fit any gift item into one of the categories.

I updated this is 2018

Gold 
-The gift you REALLY want-
Symbolically Gold represents kingship. The King that Christ is for us. It also represents the purification process we go through in our trials as a Christian.

Examples:  Georgia really wanted a skateboard so her and Milam both are getting skateboards this year. It's a big item on their list so it goes in the gold spot.

Frankincense
-Spiritual or cultural growth-
Frankincense represented the divinity of Christ because Frankincense was burnt as an offering to God.

Examples: We typically go with books in this spot for our kids.  We got Georgia a Harry Potter set and Milam got a set of books on colors and numbers with construction equipment.  

Myrrh
-For your body-
Myrrh represents the bitter cup that Christ had to drink in suffering for our sins and the healing for us that his death brings.  Myrrh was used for embalming and therefor represents the cross he would bare.

Examples: This year since both of the kids are getting new skateboards we also bought them new Vans.  Milam LOVES new shoes and there was a glitter Purrmaid pair that Georgia had been eyeing so that was an easy choice.

Santa
-Another BIG gift-

In addition to Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh we also do one Santa gift .  At our house parents don't get gifts from Santa.  

From Santa both of our kids are getting new bikes because the LOVE bikes.  Milam needs to learn with pedals and Georgia needs a totally new bike.  Hers is so done!

They also got two more small gifts under the tree that were just small things we happened to see.

And, my husband is insistent that each person gets 12 stocking stuffers each.  That represents the "12 Days of Christmas" song.  I think it's so silly but he likes it so we keep it.  Here is where I put their smaller trendier items.  We like to keep their gifts really useful and things we know they'll use for a long time.  Stockings are items that they both love but are usually more disposable or trendy things that Georgia's interest in is fleeting.

2 comments:

Natalie said...

Interesting! I am like you-I LOVE buying gifts, but don't want so much STUFF. And don't want my kids to grow up only caring about what they get for Christmas. I've never seen gift buying laid out like this, but I like it. This year we did 3 gifts for each girl-clothes, a book and a toy. We have talked about doing the something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read, thing too. I like this idea though of really bring it back to Christ's birth. Funny about Jonathan and the stocking stuffers ;)

Megan C said...

Love the detailed explanation. Pinning this for sure so I don't have to keep asking you questions each year haha!
I believe it went pretty well with us this year but next year (or maybe the year after) I want to explain what it means to Seth

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