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Three Gifts with meaning

We have a wonderful gift giving ritual in our home. It is so simple and lovely that I must pass it on. Our children get 3 gifts from us. We give Wise Men Gifts- Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.
Gold gift- In honor of the gold given to Baby Jesus this is an expensive gift that they have really been wanting- the most desired gift on their Christmas list.
Frankincense Gift- In honor of the Frankincense given to Baby Jesus- which was an incense used extensively in the Jewish temples at the time- this gift is something that will help you in your Christian walk- such as a Bible, devotional, Adventures in Odyssey CDs, Veggie Tales DVDs, and Jonathan Park CDs etc.
Myrrh Gift- In honor of the Myrrh presented to Baby Jesus- a spice used to cover the body in preparation for burial- this gift is something that will cover or perfume the body- such as clothing or bath/beauty products (lotion, body wash, bubble bath).
A friend of mine gave me some real frankincense and myrrh which I divided into beautiful little bags for each child. I then made beautiful fancy tags that explained the meaning of each (note: we wrap the gold gift in gold paper) that top each present every year.
In this way we have not only paired down and simplified our gift giving but we have brought Christ back into focus for our children. Each year we discuss the meaning behind each gift before we opened them. Mr. Steady and I also do the 3 Wise Men gifts for each other.
Besides their 3 gifts, our children receive a special pair of Christmas jammies to be opened right before bed on Christmas Eve and each child also gets a special bag filled with new books.

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3:03 PM, 2007-Nov-16 .. Posted by gabbie427

What a wonderful idea!! Christmas giving, especially to small children can really get out of hand. I think I will adopt the three gift tradition!!!

Thanks for sharing!!

God Bless,
Amy Jo

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11:28 AM, 2007-Nov-17 .. Posted by homesteadmama4

This is a wonderful idea. I will be adopting this idea also. What a great way to teach the little ones about the birth of Jesus. I so glad I read this today.

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9:24 AM, 2007-Nov-18 .. Posted by Anonymous

I had heard about this before. We are sort of implementing it with our older son this year. I think we will do it with the younger children next year. We also give the new pajamas and books. They usually get the pajamas on Christmas Eve but the books on Christmas. My older son's book this year is a new Bible so it works with the three gifts,

Melody
http://threeboysandadog.blogspot.com