Just Pass It On.....

The title of my blog is Small Homestead Living. And while most of my posts are about homesteading, animals, gardens, canning and the like, it's also about life...OUR life. Why we do what we do. Why we believe what we believe.

We know that there will be folks who don't agree with us at all and some who agree whole heartily. There will be folks who agree, but just aren't interested in this life for them, and there will be folks who want to incorporate certain things in their life.

I was reading on Facebook today, a certain page that I follow. A question was posed, "How much do you spend on your children at Christmas?" This person went on to say that they thought $500 per child was fine. This person also had more than one child. This did not include spouse, extended family, etc. Let me tell you, I just nearly fell out of my chair!!!

$500 on one person...I'm still trying to wrap my head around this.

Is it okay to spend that amount of money? Yes......I guess....????

Is it right? I'm inclined to say no......at least not for us.

First of all, there is major materialism going on there. It's all around us. Mailboxes are full of credit card statements. Families need two incomes just to make ends meet...if they meet at all. Sales circulars, catalogs, commercials and online ads convince us that life would be better if we had ______. We are missing out if we don't have ________.  This is the world we live in.

And that is very sad.

We are raising a generation that has to have the most, the newest, the priciest. And that generation will soon be a generation of adults that have to work two and three jobs, each parent, and another generation of children will see that and think it's normal....and the cycle continues.

As a family, we made a decision this year that Christmas will be done differently. We have never been uber extravagant in our giving, but we ourselves have gotten caught up in the spending too much money rap and while we haven't incurred debt, how much could we have helped or blessed those less fortunate if we had been wiser.

This year, hubby and I have set strict spending limits. Gifts should be handmade if possible and most of them should serve a useful purpose with only one or two being that "just because" thing.

Our adult children are incorporating those same guidelines in their homes and I couldn't be more proud of them!

I have a granddaughter that I love SO much!! I am fully convinced the sun doesn't shine until she gets up....however, I want her and her parents want her to understand it isn't the number of gifts or the amount spent, but the love and careful choosing behind the gift that matters.

This is a rather long post, I realize...but this is something here on the Homestead that we hold dear. Simple living. Simple things. Simple pleasures.

And we hope to pass it on......