Growing up as a kid who did not believe in Christmas was tough on me in my younger years, not the celebration of Christmas, but because I had to go back to school and hear about all of the wonderful gifts my classmates had received over the holidays. I'm not gonna lie, it made me feel slightly inferior and down right jealous that I had not received anything. I wouldn't dare to ask my parents to buy me a gift, so that I too, could embark upon this conversation of gifting, but I always wished that I could get just one thing, one thing that I could come back bragging about. As time went on I worried about it less and less, then not at all. I went on to have my own kids, and history has a funny way of repeating itself, because sure enough, that same feeling rang true for my kids as well.  The questions of, "why don't we have a tree?" "why don't we decorate with lights?" and "why don't we get any gifts?" were the questions I started to get from my children. Of course, I had to explain to them that we don't believe in Christmas and why we don't. Then an idea came to me that I felt would excite my kids without compromising our beliefs. A New Years Day Scavenger Hunt!! I explained to my kids that while we do not celebrate Christmas, the fact that we were allowed to see another year in Yahweh's creation is reason for a celebration. I took advantage of all of the after Christmas sales, and bought some gifts for the kids, wrapped them like presents, and hid them around the house with clues attached to them leading them to the next gift. (So no they didn't have a tree to look under, but the scavenger hunt was just as, if not, more exiting) My kids absolutely loved this hunt!!! It brought them so much joy, and they have looked forward to it every year since. It stopped the why, why, why questions in my kids, and also brought a smile to my face, and I think that it pacified some old feelings I may have harbored inside of me from my childhood, unknowingly. I hope this post is helpful for someone who has gone through or is going through something similar. Leave comments below on your thoughts and experiences growing up with or without Christmas. Until next time, I'm signing off, OSM