The (home-made) Christmas Tree

About a week ago I reviewed my finances and realised that this Christmas is going to be very tight. It’s been a mixed year; wonderfully blessed in some areas and terrifically hard in others. C’est la vie. But Christmas is one of those events that I always long to do extravagantly, so the realisation that this year’s budget is practically non-existent was a bit of a shock.

I did what I always do in those kinds of situations: I immediately started to think about all the folk who have it worse off than me. Reminding yourself that there are some people who don’t have a roof, much less a Christmas tree, this time of year is a sure-fire way to gain some perspective.  But it didn’t change the state of my bank account or my list of people to give to, and I knew I was going to have to find a way to do Christmas just as generously…but differently.

I love working at Stewardship. I love it because I get to talk about generosity all day long, create websites and communities alongside generous people and generally feel surrounded by positivity. One of the best bits of the year here is Advent, because we spend time sifting through festive stories of generosity for The Christmas Tree. It’s a website entirely dedicated to inspiring a spirit of unpretentious generosity that sometimes gets lost amid the consumerist din. And it’ll probably also make you laugh.

For me, that was the point at which my bleak finances became an opportunity to strip my generosity back to the core. As I was reading through the submissions for The Christmas Tree, I discovered that true joy at Christmas definitely isn’t in what you get, and it’s not even really in what you give: it’s the spirit with which you give it. Consideration, kindness and love count for much more than simply ticking people off of your ‘to buy’ list.

So this year will be a home-made Christmas. I’m sewing things, finger-painting, baking stuff, generally getting my hands dirty. It’s costing me effort and hours, and that feels like more of a worthy price to pay to be honest.

Read and share some inspirational stories of Christmas generosity on The Christmas Tree here.