I read today that Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon apparently only buys her children “one or two” presents at Christmas.

The source of this information referred to Witherspoon as “stingy”, but I’m totally with her. I remember telling a friend of mine that I wasn’t buying anything for my son, Harry, for Christmas. Harry didn’t know what Christmas was, didn’t need anything and I knew that friends and family would be going present-mad. “But what about his little face on Christmas morning when he realizes he hasn’t got anything?” my friend asked. He was six months old at the time!

“I try and stay away from the gluttony of things,” Witherspoon says. “They don’t appreciate it as much. When they only get one or two things, they really like it.”

Present Frenzy!

From my own childhood Christmases, to those spent with young cousins, nephews and now my son, I know beyond a doubt that the more you get the less you appreciate it. I remember being horrified a couple of years ago as wrapping paper flew around the heads of red-faced children who, after each gift was opened, simply shouted “Next!”

And I still feel guilty thinking about the time I opened all my presents before shouting, “I said I wanted a tape recorder!” They urge to take away the stuff they had bought me must have been overwhelming.

Oh and then there was the time my youngest nephew asked me, “Why do you always buy us books? Why don’t you get us something good?” This year he asked for cash. He’s seven.

Want Versus Need

Of course children will generally ask for as much as they think they can get away with. And then some more. If Harry watches a children’s channel with advertisements he says, “We should buy that!” about pretty much every product featured. But I know that he doesn’t actually want any of it and he certainly doesn’t need any of it – he still has toys from the past two years that he hasn’t yet played with.

This year, I suggested to family that, rather than buying Harry stuff he doesn’t need, they make a donation to charity. I didn’t see the point, I said, of buying him something simply for the sake of buying him something. They nodded. Said they totally agreed. And then bought him presents anyway.

But what’s the betting that they’ve made a charity donation instead of a present for me and my husband?

Photo by: urbanshoregirl’s