Christmas gift

I’ve lived over 38 years now, and that makes a lot of Christmases past. I remember many, and others not so much. What I’ve been thinking about this week is how they’ve changed. I guess more specifically, where have we put the focus.

I can remember not too many years in the past I lived the Christmas season full of stress. I worked a changing schedule, and so I was sometimes absent from Christmas morning. I had a small income, but let the commercialism of Christmas overtake me, and constantly worried about the right gift, and tried not to leave anyone out. Trying to control the worldly aspect of the season stole the joy from the spiritual essence of Christmas. No more.

At our best, we all grow up. We learn from hard experience, sometimes from kind words and deeds, and rarer still, from profound moments where everything seems to come into focus. I’ve been blessed to have all these experiences, and today, I don’t worry about the small stuff. It’s my responsibility throughout the entire year to let those I love know how much they mean to me, not through spending money once a year. I receive Christmas cards every year from people who don’t speak to me the rest of the months of the year, so are they driven by emotion, or by obligation? I used to be driven by the latter. Now, I try to share a hug and communicate much better than I did in years past. I have determined that’s what I’m meant to do. Put the advertisements, the guilt, and the stress of Christmas into its own box, wrap it tight, and never open it again.

I fail every year adhering to this plan. I catch myself wanting to give someone something they’ll never forget. I try to remind myself that giving ourselves is the best gift. When that’s hard, I remember the best gift I’ve ever received, and it was exactly that…a gift of a child, fully human, and fully God. Christ the Savior is Born. Merry Christmas.