A mum who stopped buying her kids Christmas presents when they were eight and ten after realising the family already had enough, says she doesn’t regret it.
Maya Manseau, 61, and her family decided to stop buying each other gifts and instead donate $1k to charity every Christmas.
She says her children – Lindsay and Megan – fully supported the decision and were never resentful
Since they started the tradition – in 2001- they have donated $1k a year to a range of different charities.
Instead of opening a pile of presents on the big day, they eat and celebrate with family.
Maya, a business owner, from, Maine, US, said: “The first year we did it was just after the 9/11 terror attacks.
“I sat my two daughters down and did the normal thing of asking what they wanted to do for Christmas.
“The girls were like ‘mum, we have so much’ and we started talking about how we could help others.
“We decided to donate $1,000 to the 9/11 fund instead of giving each other presents.
“The following year we found a charity where you ‘adopt a family’ and buy them a list of presents that they have asked for. The girls were totally on board with that.
“When we got the list we saw that the dad had written that all he wanted was socks and mittens and the girls were mind blown.
“It was a really great learning lesson for the girls – to teach them about the basic necessities and giving.
“We loved going around and picking out the presents for the children and the parents.”
Maya’s family experienced a difficult Christmas in 2000, due to ill health, and she says it gave them a new perspective on the holiday.
She was struck down with a flesh-eating virus at the beginning of December after cutting her foot while cleaning out an old pool in Florida.
She spent two weeks in hospital and was put on antibiotics.
She said: “They managed to fly me back up to Maine from Florida.
“But I hadn’t done much Christmas shopping and I was worried that the girls would be upset.
“When I told them my eldest who was 10 at the tine said ‘mum, you’re here and you’re OK and that’s all I wanted for Christmas’.”
Maya and her ex partner, still did stockings for the girls and padded them out – calling them elaborate stockings – so the children didn’t wake up with nothing on the day.
Maya said: “They would be filled with a few items of clothes, books, puzzles and stationary equipment and maybe one more expensive gift.”
Maya lost her eldest daughter, Lindsay, 11 years ago in 2012 after she was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of 23.
She says it has made the Christmas holidays much harder, but continuing to give to others has helped to cope.
“It fuelled my desire to continue helping all year round, I had lots of people step up to help me in a big way, and I’m always looking to return that support,” Maya said.
“We always try and help as many people as we can at Christmas and if we find out someone will be spending Christmas alone, we will want them to join us.”
Maya’s favourite part of Christmas is cooking together as a family.
She said: “My mother-in-law, taught home economics in middle school and she used to love to bake and cook.
“As soon as my kids were old enough to stand on a chair with a little apron on, they cooked with her.”
Christmas hasn’t been the same for the family since Lindsay’s tragic death and this year Maya is publishing a book called ‘Living intentionally after loss’ to help teach others how to deal with grief.
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