Christmas is a great holiday. Yes, it’s people celebrating the birth of Christ using the mediums of presents, fat men, and reindeer, but overall it’s a joyful time. Some parts might not totally make sense, but it still has good values. It teaches kids about giving, even though, to get real for a second, children don’t have much to give during the holidays. Let’s be honest, no parent really likes giving their kid $20 to take to school just to get a cheap gift that THEY paid for. When your a teen, it gets a little better, to be fair, but you still can’t afford anything that impressive. If you are starting to feel bad about the crappy gifts you’ve been giving your parents every year: don’t. No parent really expects anything more. No parent actually expects their fifteen year old to blow them away at Christmas. We still try, and yes that does mean something. If you have siblings, let’s be honest, the goal is really just to get your parents a better gift than they did. Parents have low expectations when it comes to Christmas overall, so this year let’s try to make them decently surprised (which, no offense, really won’t be that hard for most of you).

Take them to a movie or buy them dinner. Seriously, it’s not that hard. They legitimately want to spend time with you, so just do something with them.

Team up with your siblings. Instead of making it a competition, get your siblings to pitch in so your parents can get one decent gift instead of two or three gifts that they’ll pretend to appreciate.

Put something together. No, I don’t mean make something (unless you’re good at that type of thing, then go for it). Put together a care package by buying a bunch of little things and making it one big thing. It shows that you actually pay attention to your parents.  

Or just don’t do presents this year. This is an actual thing some families do. Let’s be honest, some families are strapped for cash and presents don’t really matter. Just talk to your family and see if everyone would be down for a no present Christmas. You could all help give to people outside of your family, like people in need, and not each other. Some families volunteer together or everyone pitches in and donates money for the people who can’t afford to celebrate the holidays. Sometimes the holidays can be better when you’re focusing on what’s really important, which isn’t presents.

This list is pretty short, because you don’t need a lot to have a good Christmas. You’re parents also probably just want proof that they raised you right. It’s a cliche, but the holidays are about family and people coming together, so maybe you shouldn’t expect so much and maybe you should just give your time and truly care about what your giving people. Truly appreciate the people around you, but also remember to show that you appreciate them. This works with all different holidays, so always keep it in mind.