Craig O'Neill reads a Christmas story to one of his granddaughters, Ameila.

Families have been searching for less materialistic ways to celebrate the holidays for decades, and commercialization was already a depressing holiday theme 50 years ago when the family classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas” appeared. But whether the answer is turning to faith, charity or ingenuity, your family can break free of the “spend $25 on everyone you love” way of celebrating. Traditional gestures like visiting the elderly or making contributions are still great, but here are some additional creative ideas.

1. Stories of Old

Christmas is family time with multiple generations. So instead of giving the kids cash to buy Grandma or Grandpa a present, make things more fun and personal by asking the elders to tell old family stories through the course of the year. The younger generations can record the tales and compile a family history book with hand-drawn illustrations or old photographs. The book becomes a marvelous and heartfelt gift.

Craig O’Neill and Jane F. Hankins enjoy stories of O’Neill’s younger days with their granddaughters Bella, 12, and Amelia, 8.

2. Avoid the Rush

Take the focus off store-bought Christmas gifts by having a family singalong or storytelling session. Presents can wait for later. Or you can vote on the most-fun performances, with the winner getting to open his or her gifts first. Extended families can prepare for get-togethers by coming up with a skit or play to perform for relatives seen only once a year.

3. Tasteful Gifts

Food is a pathway to the heart, so why buy something for someone who loves your special meatloaf or homemade lasagna? Make some of your specialties in advance and wrap them up along with the recipe. You will get plenty of appreciation without spending a lot. Any canned items from your summer garden that are still sitting in your cupboard are sure to make someone smile. One Little Rock grandmother has relatives form an assembly line to help with her famous salsa. They do the chopping and mixing, and eventually jar the sauce. Grandma ties ribbons around them, and they give her an excuse for drop-in holiday visits.

4. The Gift of Work

Parents enjoy getting gifts, but it’s dispiriting when the money for the presents comes straight from their pockets. So here’s a twist on those coupons kids used to make promising one hug or two nights of doing the dishes: Have the children make a present by adding a year’s worth of chores to mom or dad’s Google calendar. That way in June, Dad will be reminded that son James is mowing the yard one weekend, and Mom will get an unexpected reminder in October that Janie has blocked out an afternoon for raking leaves.

5. Get Off the Carousel

Relatives tired of spending $20 on one another only to get a $20 gift in return can step off the merry-go-round and commit their combined budget to a good cause. Rachael Scott, who works in real estate in Little Rock, has family members scattered across the state who were weary of exchanging gift cards. “It seemed a little pointless after a while. So everyone wrote down the name of a charity and we had a drawing to see who would get the gift.” The winner was Wikipedia, which raises money through its Wikimedia Foundation. All through the next year, family members got a chuckle each time they looked something up on the website.

6. Talk to the Animals

Instead of one more toy for each child, set aside a day for a family trip to the zoo. Mom and Dad will feel like kids again, the children can see animals like camels, sheep and donkeys — or in the case of the Little Rock Zoo, Somali wild asses — that they can relate to the story of Bethlehem and Christ’s birth.