Before answering, absorb some of these jaw-dropping facts:

• The average American will spend $1,250 this holiday season on gifts, travel, and entertainment.
• 28 percent of shoppers enter this holiday season still paying off debt from last year’s gift shopping!
• More than 50 percent will overspend their holiday budget or not set one at all.
• Consumers who go into debt over the season will take on an average of $1,054 in new debt.

Now, for some families the joy and happiness of gift-giving is worth the price tag. That’s certainly your choice. But if you’re looking to adjust your holidays to be more in line with your efforts to declutter, you can tweak your gift-giving thought process to deliver more satisfaction and less stress/stuff.

So, how do you do that? Minimalist extraordinaire Joshua Becker cites a tradition in his family:

“For the last eight years, we’ve given our children three gifts on Christmas morning: one thing they want, one thing they need, and one experience to share with the family. This has become our Christmas tradition. And, in my opinion, it is more memorable and tradition-establishing than a whole pile of who-knows-what under the tree.”

If you love to give and get presents, you can also opt for gifts that don’t add clutter to your home. For example, make your gifts either something that can be consumed (e.g. bottle of wine) or experienced (e.g. concert, a dinner, a cross country skiing date, etc.). If you really want to give a physical gift, make it a high quality one so it will last longer (e.g. buy him that Polo dress shirt rather than an off-the-rack special from Marshalls).

Of course, part of the stress of the holiday season can be thinking you have to get a gift for every family member. You might be surprised at how receptive your extended families (e.g. siblings and their spouses and children) would be to gifts only for the kids. Or even no gifts at all but a plan to get together for the holidays or shortly thereafter.

You might be thinking, “You can’t change Christmas. It’s a tradition.” Well, the Christmas holiday has evolved in many ways over the years. In the first part of the 19th century, Christmas was a holiday for the wealthy to gift food and drink to those in need. It was later on in mid 19th century that the holiday turned inward and giving gifts to members of the family. By 1890, children were waiting in long lines to give their wish lists to Santa.

So, you see, the holiday can and has been altered and can still be something you hold near and dear. It really can be what you decide it to be and not what societal norms dictate.