Christmas gift giving theology

Lisa and I have made some changes to our theology of gift giving at Christmas.

My overarching goal is for us to be satisfied in Jesus Christ alone. And, because we treasure Jesus, I want us to please him and obey him by using our money to serve him. We also want to draw Adeline (our daughter) in to seeing Jesus Christ as the only thing worth having and to learn to treasure him and serve him in the way we desire to.

For ourselves, Lisa and I are going to request everyone around us to give money to a charity (which we have yet to choose) instead of buying us gifts. We want a heavenly reward.

For Adeline, the goal is different. We still need to draw her in to knowing Jesus and loving Jesus. We want to demonstrate God's goodness (i.e. his generosity) to Adeline by giving her good gifts. Rather than giving many gifts, we intend to give her one gift that will meaningfully and generously meet a legitimate need. We are going to ask everyone else who gives her a gift to give her only one gift and that it meaningfully meet a legitimate need, and that it not be excessive. We want to bless her, as God blesses us, but we will also teach her about why her parents do not want earthly gifts at Christmas, and we hope that she eventually will also see the eternal treasure in seeking to be satisfied in Jesus Christ rather than herself or earthly things and make a similar choice of her own.