Yes, it's Christmas time again!

When I think of Christmas I think of time off work; sun and surf; Carols at the Rotunda; the commercialisation of Christmas (and how to resist it); who's hosting the Christmas day celebrations this year and what I have to remember to bring. Then I start to think about what I will buy for my family members this year. I also think about all the people who don't have anywhere to go on Christmas day and wonder how we can include them in our celebrations.

For many parents Christmas is a highly stressful time as they squeeze additional Christmas expenditure out of their tight budgets. For some families its just one big present for each child, but others have the tradition of many little presents and one major one for each child to open.

Sometimes, tension can often arise when parents disagree on how much they should spend. This tension can sometimes be alleviated by parents simply talking about how Christmas was celebrated in each of their families of origin. This will reveal differences in the traditions they grew up with and by talking together hopefully they can reach a workable compromise.

I know in our family I would do my best to buy the presents with a few little extras for the children, and then on Christmas Eve my husband would say "What have you got for (and he would name each child)?"  If he thought it looked a bit stingy, he would often rush out and buy a few little extras, one for each child. He wanted Christmas to be a time of excess and abundance whereas I was more cautious.

Actually this didn't cause any tension because I really appreciate his generosity of spirit.

When I think about presents, I often think about buying 'experiences' for people rather than material objects. Magazine subscriptions are also good. Along with their big present, I thought I'd buy an annual subscription for 'Every day with Jesus' and also 'The Word for Today' for my adult children who are Christians or maybe I'll go for 'My Utmost for His Highest' by Oswald Chambers for those that haven't got it yet. We have also started buying presents like goats or toilets or seeds for people in far off lands in the form of a card from the various charities that market them.

I often ask my kids to 'buy me an experience' rather than a thing. A night out at the theatre, or a tandem sky dive or Bridge Climb would be good. Maybe not a tandem sky dive!!

The Christmas holiday period also brings other challenges.

When my children were school aged, I used to think about what to do with the kids for six weeks. Sometimes, I would send them to Christian camps. Today many churches organise 'day camps' for kids at the church premises and from what I hear at my church, they are very popular with kids who normally don't go to church as well as with the church kids. We also always tried to manage a beach holiday somewhere as a family.

We usually go to the Christmas Eve service at our church so that Christmas Day is not too crammed full of activities. The heat and excitement of the day can make tempers fray as we all know, so I think we aim for less rather than more on the actual day.

My husband's family always read the Christmas story from Scripture on Christmas day and last year I remember we had a reading and then he asked two family members to pray. It's easier for us to do this now because the children are adults, but it's a good habit to start when the kids are young.

Maybe some readers have some Christmas experiences you'd like to share. How do you manage to keep Christmas meaningful amidst the consumerism and overindulgence increasingly associated with the season in which we recall Jesus' humble incarnation?