I was surrounded by carts, full of books that needed to be checked in at work today, and a co-worker came over to tell me that she’d read my blog post about my youngest child finally giving up the Santa tradition. She shared with me that her family didn’t include Santa in their holiday celebration but her son had come up with a great idea for kids who do. His idea was so brilliant (thanks Gregory!) that I wanted to share it with you. It left me wishing I had some years left with the old man from the North Pole so I could put his idea into practice.
What Gregory came up with was one of those win-win plans. He wondered why kids only received from Santa and didn’t do some giving of their own. He recognized that he had many toys that he’d outgrown and he’d be willing to let Santa take those toys, to re-distribute to the other good little boys and girls.
Like I said…Brilliant. In our almost twenty years of including Santa in our holiday celebration, why did this idea never occur to me? The more I thought about it, the more I wondered how I could get this tradition started, in our gimme moremoremore society. So maybe you can help me out.
If you have little ones, and you still do the Santa routine, think about adding to your tradition. It’s a great way to enact the ole reduce, reuse, recycle mantra. Tell your children that Santa loves to give toys to kids so much that he’d love to help find new homes for some of their already-played-with toys. It would be great to include something about how Santa knows many kids who don’t have trees with piles of presents underneath , and if they helped out, he could deliver their still wonderful toys on to very grateful neighbors.
Yes, it will mean a bit more logistical planning on that already busy block of time after little ones are in bed on Christmas Eve. But it’s truly a gesture that could help everyone involved. Your kids get excited about sorting through their once loved treasures, motivated by the giving spirit, which is what the holiday should be about anyway. Their toy boxes are then a bit less stuffed and ready for new holiday bounty that will surely come on Christmas morning. And to round it all out, the local shelters and thrift stores will suddenly be overrun with wonderful things they can distribute to those who will really appreciate them.
My not so little boy gave up Santa this year, but I know there are many families out there still who have some years left with him. Do me a favor and consider Gregory’s idea. It’s one I wish I had come up with myself. But I do have the venue, so as a favor to my young friend, I’m passing the idea on to you. Do with it what you wish.
It was a pretty proud day when my 2.5 year old told me he didn’t need Santa to bring him gifts but he wanted to give his old baby toys to Santa so they could go to babies who needed toys. Thanks for sharing Gregory’s epiphany so other people can start their own toy recycling tradition! Merry Christmas!