Lee Woodruff: "The Best Gift I've Ever Given My Kids"

Dec. 13, 2009— -- The holidays are fraught with so many choices -- what is the perfect gift, the most coveted gift, what to get for the favorite people in your life.

Somehow, in the last decade, Christmas in our house has become a cavalcade of toys and wrapped items. The pile under the tree has grown larger and larger, but the meaning and the essence of giving is getting muted as the years pass. Barely a week or two later, most of the objects lie forgotten in the basement or in bedrooms.

This holiday I am doing some serious editing. I'm paring down and scaling back, and the gifts I give are going to have more meaning and less volume. But when the producers at "Good Morning America Weekend" asked me to think about what were the all-time favorite gifts I had given my kids, it didn't take me long to come up with the answer.

When each of my four children were born, I began saving all the important stuff from their lives and putting it in a scrapbook. When each turned 6, I presented them with their first issue, kind of a birth book combined with scrapbook. Each of my four kids has this book, which has now grown to more volumes, in their rooms.

I know, I know. The homemade gift concept is sure to make "uncrafty" people feel as inadequate as I do when I see Martha Stewart waving a glue gun. But you don't have to be creative to give a gift made from love. The gifts I cherish from my children are the scribbled notes, the handwritten valentine, the clay bead necklace and the child's cards. They are things that come more from the heart than from the wallet.

But for everyone out there groaning and measuring the cheesiness factor in this homemade pick, I offer my second favorite gift: an experience. I can tell you without hesitation it was a trip we took with the whole family.

Last Christmas would be the last year my son was officially living in the house (the future is yet unwritten, however). My husband and I wanted to go on one big trip with the family that would take us away together without cell phones or texting or all the other distractions of everyday life. We planned a trip to the Galapagos Islands and surprised them with the tickets and a guidebook under the tree.

Time Spent With Family Is the Best Gift of All

The trip we took that winter was our best ever as a family. Yes, it was expensive and we all understood we were privileged to be able to go, but I will cherish it forever. It was a memory and a time together. We have the pictures and we often recall funny moments from the vacation, some of the jokes, the hikes we took together and the wildlife we discovered.

I hope we all continue to share Christmases together for decades to come. But what these moments have taught me more than anything as I rush and prepare and cross things off lists this season is to worry less about what's under the tree and focus more on who is around it.

Lee Woodruff is the Life and Family Contributor for "Good Morning America." Read an excerpt of her book "Perfectly Imperfect: A Life in Progress."