Why I Don't Give My Three-Year-Old Daughter Christmas Gifts

By Raakhee Mirchandani for Elle Magazine

When my 3-year-old daughter wakes up on Christmas morning, there will be no presents to unwrap under the Christmas tree. There will no unboxing videos, no tears because we couldn't find a Hatchimal, and no chance that I wasted a minute of sleep or single breath on fulfilling a list of demands targeted to a portly stranger from the North Pole.

There will neither be stockings stuffed with trinkets, nor an elf who can't seem to stay in one damn place.

Instead, on Christmas morning, we'll enjoy breakfast together, in front of our tree, covered in ornaments we painted together. It took a few hours on a recent rainy Sunday―and the time creating something together was as thrilling as the outcome. We mixed red and blue to make purple, contemplated if there was such a thing as too much glitter (she says yes, I say no), and agreed that while the wooden medallions would hang on our tree for a few weeks, the end-game was to give them away to people we love throughout the holiday season.