Christmas is the time of year where kids go see Santa, people watch The Nutcracker, and all of the family traditions come out. For most, it’s a time of pure joy. But for those who don’t have a lot of money, Christmas can bring on some financial worries and that seems to be where my family resides each year. Let’s back up to when I was about 10 or 11 and we had our first worrisome Christmas season. My parents had recently split, leaving my brother, mom and I to fend for ourselves and figure out what our next step was going to be.

My father provided most of the money and my mom had a job but she mostly stayed at home with my brother and I. She stressed over money, we wondered if we would have enough money for food each month, so Christmas was a very fragile time of year. We were never a rich family but we were stable and as far as I know, Christmas was never an issue before the divorce. We got help from our very generous community, enrolled in food stamps, and found all the good food banks in the area. We were lucky that we had people around to help near the holidays because not everyone has that.

Christmas gifts, however, were another story. I’ve always told my mom that I didn’t need gifts just food and that always brought a smile to her face whenever she wished and stressed over the fact that she couldn’t do more for us. Not having a lot of money kind of forced me to look at things differently.

I’ve never been a materialistic person but it definitely changed my definition of what Christmas is.

Christmas still isn’t an easy time of the year for my family, and we still wonder if we will have enough money for food each month– and if Christmas will even be possible this year. But we have learned to adapt and do what we can. We all know the importance of Christmas and it’s not because of presents or the dinner. It’s important because we have made it through another year and still have a roof over our head, have succeeded in not going hungry, clothes on our backs, but most importantly, we still have each other.