{"id":146383,"date":"2023-12-20T16:54:34","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T16:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/?p=146383"},"modified":"2023-12-20T16:54:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T16:54:34","slug":"mom-stops-buying-christmas-presents-for-her-kids-and-they-dont-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/lifestyle\/mom-stops-buying-christmas-presents-for-her-kids-and-they-dont-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom stops buying Christmas presents for her kids &#8211; and they don&apos;t care"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span>EXCLUSIVE<\/span> Mother who STOPPED buying Christmas gifts for her two children when they were just eight and ten insists decision made their holiday better than ever &#8211; and helped them to overcome devastating family tragedy<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Maya Manseau, 61, from Maine, stopped giving her kids presents back in 2001<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><span>Instead, for each Christmas, the family has donated to various charities<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Her daughters were always &#8216;on board&#8217; with the generous-minded approach<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A mom who stopped buying her kids Christmas presents when they were eight and 10 after realizing the family already had enough says she doesn&#8217;t regret it.<\/p>\n<p>Maya Manseau, 61, and her family decided to stop buying each other gifts and instead donate $1,000 to charity every Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>She says her children &#8211; Lindsay and Megan &#8211; fully supported the decision and were never resentful.<\/p>\n<p>Since kicking off the tradition in 2001, the family has donated $1,000 a year to a range of different charities.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/20\/15\/79170509-12885665-image-m-89_1703084942926.jpg\" height=\"744\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Maya Manseau, 61, of Maine, and her family stopped buying Christmas presents for each other in 2001 &#8211; and instead have donated about $1,000 each year to different charities<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/20\/16\/79170597-12885665-The_tradition_started_after_Maya_fell_ill_just_before_Christmas_-a-16_1703088137839.jpg\" height=\"683\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The tradition started after Maya fell ill just before Christmas of 2000 and wasn&#8217;t able to get her family presents on time for the holidays. Maya is pictured with her younger daughter, Megan<\/p>\n<p>Instead of opening a pile of presents on the big day, they eat and celebrate with family.<\/p>\n<p>Maya, a business owner from\u00a0Maine, said: &#8216;The first year we did it was just after the 9\/11 terror attacks.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I sat my two daughters down and did the normal thing of asking what they wanted to do for Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The girls were like, &#8220;Mom, we have so much,&#8221; and we started talking about how we could help others.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We decided to donate $1,000 to the 9\/11 fund instead of giving each other presents.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The following year we found a charity where you &#8220;adopt a family&#8221; and buy them a list of presents that they have asked for. The girls were totally on board with that,&#8217; she continued.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It was a really great learning lesson for the girls &#8211; to teach them about the basic necessities and giving.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/20\/15\/79173379-12885665-image-a-90_1703085269842.jpg\" height=\"519\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>For the first Christmas without presents &#8211; which was just months after the September 11 terrorist attacks &#8211; the family chose to donate $1,000 to a 9\/11 charity<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/20\/15\/79170519-12885665-image-m-91_1703085323773.jpg\" height=\"467\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Maya lost her oldest daughter, Lindsay (pictured), to\u00a0leukemia in 2012<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We loved going around and picking out the presents for the children and the parents.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Maya&#8217;s family experienced a difficult Christmas in 2000 due to a sudden illness, and she says it gave them a new perspective on the holiday.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>She spent two weeks in hospital and was put on antibiotics.<\/p>\n<p>She recalled of the difficult incident: &#8216;They managed to fly me back up to Maine from Florida.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But I hadn&#8217;t done much Christmas shopping and I was worried that the girls would be upset.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;When I told them, my eldest, who was 10 at the time, said, &#8220;Mom, you&#8217;re here and you&#8217;re OK and that&#8217;s all I wanted for Christmas.&#8221;&#8216;<\/p>\n<p>Maya and her ex-partner still did stockings for the girls and padded them out &#8211; calling them &#8216;elaborate stockings&#8217; \u2013 so the children didn&#8217;t wake up with nothing on the day.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;They would be filled with a few items of clothes, books, puzzles and stationary equipment and maybe one more expensive gift,&#8217; she said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/20\/15\/79170517-12885665-image-a-92_1703085625278.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>After losing Lindsay, Maya says her grief &#8216;fueled my desire to continue helping all year round&#8217; &#8211; especially given on how many people showed up for her and her family<\/p>\n<p>Tragedy struck the family in 2012 when Maya lost her eldest daughter, Lindsay, after she was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 23.<\/p>\n<p>She says it has made the Christmas holidays much harder, but continuing to give to others has helped to cope.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It fueled my desire to continue helping all year round, I had lots of people step up to help me in a big way, and I&#8217;m always looking to return that support,&#8217; Maya said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;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.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Maya&#8217;s favorite part of Christmas is cooking together as a family.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;My mother-in-law taught home economics in middle school and she used to love to bake and cook,&#8217; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;As soon as my kids were old enough to stand on a chair with a little apron on, they cooked with her.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Christmas hasn&#8217;t been the same for the family since Lindsay&#8217;s tragic death.<\/p>\n<p>But this year Maya is publishing a book called Living Intentionally After Loss to help teach others how to deal with grief.<\/p>\n<p>She told Authority Magazine of moving past the loss: &#8216;As I began to heal, I began to teach the others the things that I had learned.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/femail\/article-12885665\/Mother-STOPPED-buying-Christmas-gifts-two-children-just-eight-ten-insists-decision-holiday-better-helped-overcome-devastating-family-tragedy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EXCLUSIVE Mother who STOPPED buying Christmas gifts for her two children when they were just eight and ten insists decision made their holiday better than&hellip; 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