With Hanukkah starting this weekend and Christmas just a few days a way, many of us are in that last frenzy of holiday gift buying. “Frantic” actually seems to be a good descriptive for the zeitgeist right now– frantic retailers offering unprecedented promotions to get us to shop, frantic consumers looking to take advantage, while also approaching spending with a sobriety unlike any we have seen in years (if not ever).

What does it all mean in terms of what our our individual experiences will be on Christmas morning, 2008 (or around the menorah this year, or whatever your holiday celebration of choice may be)?

Without meaning to sound all Jimmy Stewart-esque, I find myself approaching this season with an utter mix of trepidation about our world today combined with an even greater desire to cling to and appreciate all that my family does have.

My two daughters have more toys than they could possibly play with. Holidays past have been a blur of gift gluttony, with the inevitable pattern of some gifts making it to “favorite” status, for at least a few weeks, while others haven’t even earned half that popularity lifespan. Our 2 1/2 year old can be forgiven such capriciousness. However, our older daughter is 8, and this year of all years it seems right to enable her to reasonably enjoy the fruits of what we can provide… while also making part of her present the gift of giving to others who are really in need. So here’s the plan: we’re giving her $50. And she can decide to what charitable cause she in turn would like to donate this money (with some appropriate guidance from us). This is a child whose heart routinely breaks whenever we pass a homeless person on the streets of Manhattan, so I think she’s going to really take to the idea.

What are your thoughts? What have you done along these lines with your kids? Share with the rest of us. And to all, may you find your own best spirit of the season, and wishing you nothing but good things in this coming new year.