...Christmas Time Is Here... Time for....

Consumerism at it's best..

Truth be told I've been struggling quite a bit as the Christmas season vastly approaches and I began feeling this familiar nagging in the pit of my stomach that says "best start saving money and gathering up your holiday list of favorite people. Make sure you get the best gift for everyone!"

I tend to think the older I get the more I feel the buying of gifts aspect of Christmas to be unnecessary. It's not because I don't want to buy the gifts, don't get me wrong, but it's the mind-numbing trekking through shopping malls and partaking in that which everyone else is doing, buying what everyone else is buying, but convincing yourself its "unique" to you and will be much appreciated by the receiver it what I can't stand. I've honestly begun to question it all and have a hard time seeing, this Christmas season, the joy in this particular thing. Perhaps it's the "bah humbug" in me that's preventing this time from being joyous and exciting, or maybe it's common sense? Who knows.

Either way this Christmas I'm mostly just excited to spend it with my whole family (Dad, Mom, Jennifer, Jon, Trent, and Natalie). I come from a family of tradition, so to speak, and Christmas eve/mornings have always been and always will be special in my family. I hold those times very dear to my heart and they matter a whole lot to me, far more than the presents. I realized just how much all of this mattered to me when I was painfully away from it last year. However God still provided in a major way during that Christmas season last year and I got to spend it with very dear friends who are practically family and it was a very memorable and fun time.

Bearing this in mind I have somehow altered my way of thinking this Christmas season. Truthfully I feel if you love someone and want to show you care and how much they mean to you you are constantly trying to prove that every given day. For example, I like to buy my mom flowers at random times. I do this to show her that I was thinking about her, that I love her, and want her to know that. I've basically stopped reserving Christmas, and only Christmas, to purchase things for loved ones and friends to "show how much you mean to me."  Truth of the matter is I was only buying something because its simply what you do on Christmas. Is that really what Christmas is all about?

It's been mentioned each Christmas that the true meaning behind this holiday is that we were given the greatest gift of all - a Savior. The day that Jesus Christ was born. Yet this idea, this concept, this truth, seems to have been ripped from Christmas entirely. Did Jesus ever mean for us to borderline sacrifice ourselves, our lives, to stand in line at Walmart with one hand on a plasma screen TV and the other on a PC tablet just in hopes to get the "best price/best gift"? It's madness, is it not?

Perspective, people. Christmas shouldn't be about stressing out over what gift to get someone, where to get the "best deals", or purchasing the "next-best-item."  As I said to my dad a few weeks ago if you give it about a year that one most coveted item will be sold in pawn shops for less than half the price it is now. Trends fade, things break, items get lost or become unused. It's about focusing on the ones you have who love you, and whom you love back, as well as the Savior who brought us all together to share in this momentous occasion. Let the gift of togetherness, laughter, love, and the joy of knowing Christ take the place of any gift you can find at a store.