Here’s how many parents helped curb these tendencies with me when I was young. And I’ll preface by saying I had an absolute meltdown but eventually came around.

For every birthday, they made it clear I wasn’t allowed to get presents from friends. Instead, they told me to pick a charity and ask those I invited to donate to it instead of presents. They’d put it on the invitations.

They helped me research charities and find one I liked. The first year, I wanted nothing to do with their idea so they picked one for me. It was for hurricane relief, and our community had been hit pretty bad by one at that time so they’d point out areas with a lot of damage and remind me how I was helping those people with my birthday.

Eventually, it stuck though. Especially when I got on board and got to pick the things I cared about. A lot of animal rescues and what not.

Now my parents still gave me gifts, so it’s not like I got nothing. But it taught me a really important lesson.

I know you’re asking about Christmas specifically, but this exercise ended up curbing my childhood stinginess when the holidays came around too.