It’s the thought that counts, right?
A “minimalist” mom has revealed that she won’t buy Christmas presents for her family and instead plans to wrap up items around the home and put them under the tree this year.
On her YouTube channel, titled “Arrow Hill Cottage,” Angela Jackson said she decided to “simplify Christmas” for her family of seven after realizing that gift-giving tended to “overshadow” spending quality time as a family.
While “there’s nothing wrong with giving gifts,” she said, her family prefers splurging on screen-free activities rather than material goods.
Instead of stressing over finding the perfect present or cooking the best meal, they’re more focused on each other.
“We are not doing gifts this year,” the Midwestern mom announced, calling her decision “controversial.”
She will often wrap up items around the house that symbolize group activities — such as a cookie cutter or books — that they will participate in as a family on Christmas day.
Other times, each member of the family will pull out pieces of paper from a cup, which have an activity written on them.
”It’s just really fun that way; it kind of has that surprise element to it,” she said.
The unorthodox tradition began in 2019 when Jackson and her husband were building their house, a burden that put a financial strain on their wallet and time.
“It was so much fun. We just did all sorts of fun things together and we really enjoyed it,” she continued.
But when they returned to gift giving the following year — and, along with it, overcompensated for the lack of presents the year prior — they felt they were “missing out” on the rest of the holiday.
“What we found for ourselves is that when we gave gifts that next year, we were missing out on all the other aspects that we had been able to incorporate the year before,” she explained.
That’s when they ditched gift-giving and never looked back.
“You may remember a gift, but you will cherish a memory,” she declared.