Some families are cutting back on gifts this year, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing for the kids, according to <a href"http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2008/12/21/leangifts.html.">this story from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.</a>

After breaking the news to her kids about the loss of her husband’s job, Cynthia Mincey was surprised to hear her 6-year-old’s response: “Mama, it doesn’t matter if we have any gifts under the tree or not. All that matters is that we are together, that we are happy and a family.”

Last Christmas, after we made some cuts to our own budget, I felt guilty that my children didn’t have piles of gifts to open like they did the year before. But the funny thing was -- they didn’t even notice. Maybe they were too young to care, but the number of gifts or the actual contents of the presents didn’t really make a difference to my kids. They were just excited to see the lights on the tree, find a few trinkets in their stockings and open some gifts.

This slump in the economy can actually bring about “priceless family moments,” the article points out. Instead of "presents," we begin to focus more on presence, as one mom pointed out to me earlier this season for <a href="http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2008/dec/15/experiences-as-opposed-to-gifts/.">this story on holiday traditions.</a>

How does your family celebrate the holidays? What do you do to keep the spirit alive? 

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