Bringing Christ to Christmas Gift Giving

What better way to put Christ back into Christmas than to give Christ centered gifts! When our first child had his first Christmas we decided to give only 3 gifts as a reminder that Jesus received 3 gifts from the wisemen. Each gift had a category: want, need, and spiritual. As the children have gotten older and are adults, the want and need often overlap. 

There have been so many benefits from this. Limiting the gifts has been great at keeping the focus more on Christ. Rather than spending this season figuring out what they want, our children's focus has been freed up for other things. They are actually often at a loss, because gifts for themselves are not their top priority. It has been a benefit for us as parents, not just financially, because we don't have to stress out about getting them the perfect gift. 

Another special benefit is getting to search for something to help them in their spiritual walk. Through the years the availability of Christ centered things has grown and I can't wait to share what I've found with my grandkids. 

Regardless of how you choose to give gifts, items that draw the recipient into a deeper walk with Christ are always a good choice. Below I will share some organizations, companies, and specific items that have Christ centered gifts for everyone on your Christmas list.

The first suggestion is the Focus on the Family Store. Focus on the Family has a solid biblical foundation and was begun by James Dobson, a Christian Psychologist, with a desire to help families grow in Christ. It is a resource my husband and I have used for years for parenting, marriage, and media for our children. In their store, they have books, videos, magazines, and audios for all ages. They have sections for parenting, marriage, faith, teens, kids, and others that can be found on this page under the Topics heading. The Adventures in Odyssey series has been a kid favorite in our family for years. One of the books for couples I love is His Brain Her Brain, by my friends Walt and Barb Larimore. Walt, a family Physician like my husband, has also written quite a few other books, including some medically focused ones like The Natural Medicine Handbook and Fit over 50. His latest book, At First Light, is great for World War 2 buffs. Though some of Walt's books are through Focus on the Family, others are not, so I have included his Amazon Author's Page. His Brain Her Brain as well as some of his others are currently on sale, so the link to that book is also through Amazon.

Not Consumed is a recent discovery for me. This is run by a homeschooling mom who wants to help families grow in Christ, individually and together. It has numerous bible studies and scripture memorization tools for children and parents, and even studies and activities for the family to do together. She has both physical items and downloadable resources available! I recently ordered some beautiful scripture cards that come in packs of 52 with a stand, and on the back are designed to be postcards so you can share them with others at the end of the week. 

Other gift suggestions are the books I've reviewed in this blog over the past few months. There are some great ones with faith elements. 

My book, Not Quite Mr. Darcy, has lots of faith and scripture in it, and if you'd like some ideas of things to give with it, I've put together a page on my website. It contains lots of teas in adorable reusable tins, a mug, and a water bottle (the last 2 say What do you mean Mr. Darcy isn't real?). They are all available through Amazon Prime so you can get them quickly.

Finally, a fun thing that I did with my children when they were young was give them each a certain amount of money they could "spend" buying gifts for ministries like Compassion International or Samaritan's Purse. Both of these ministries have gift catalogs that allow you to buy items to help needy families and children in poverty-stricken areas around the world. I've linked to their gift pages. These are great ministries in general. You may have other local ministries that you can use as opportunities to do something similar with your children. Any ministry that takes Christ to others and helps the children in your life see past themselves and understand the importance of helping others in the name of Christ is a win!

I hope these ideas have helped take away some of the stress of Christmas shopping for you and also put some Christ back into Christmas!

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."