This Christmas.....

It is so easy now a days to get so wrapped up in the materialistic aspect society has warped Christmas to be.

The more gifts under the tree the better.

Giving gifts to be people, not because we have this strong desire to make that person feel happy or special, but to try to one up someone else, to make ourselves look impressive.

Pushing people in the stores, cutting them off in the parking lot, only days or hours before Christmas because we needed to buy more stuff.

And oh the lines that we impatiently wait in, with the Grinch attitude about how slow the cashier is being.

And where's heck is our Christmas cookies? Oh and then complain how fat we are going to be. Can't be happy either way, can we?

And then the bills that roll in..........

Christmas isn't about having the biggest Christmas tree, having more outside lights on display, getting everything on our Christmas wish list. It's not about receiving the most gifts, getting the latest new piece of plastic or tech-y gadget so we can be even lazier than before.

None of all that matters. Not a lick of it.

It's all about Jesus.

It's his birthday and the day should be all about him! Isn't that how we celebrate birthdays? Having one day out of the year all about us? The birthday boy/girl gets the gifts, not the guests?

And yet, Christmas is completely the opposite.

Do I participate in the Christmas festivities that society has said we have to, said it is tradition which means it has is written in stone and is unable to change, right? Yes, I do participate.

Do I get caught up in the whole rush and bushel Christmas has become? At times. I'm human. I maybe awesome ;o) but not perfect.

But, when I catch myself falling into societies trap, I take a step back. I refresh myself on Sunday while the Preset reminds us why we are waiting for Christmas. Yes we are waiting, but not to receives more gifts than we truly deserve, not to gain 5lbs from eating ourselves to the point of exploding. We are waiting for the awesom~est gift of all.

Jesus.

To save us from our stupidness of being materialistic, caring what others think of us and our stuff.

Now, it is extremely hard to stay focused, not only as an adult, but it's even harder to try to instill the true meaning of Christmas in children. How do you explain to your child why other kids get all the fancy gifts, twice as many gifts than they do? How do you try to keep your child's wish list under control and not have 40 things that each cost over $100?

My solution (which was implemented over 5+ years ago): My kids were told: "We, as parents, have to pay Santa money to cover the additional costs of gifts. Yes, Santa does make gifts, but he also has to shop online at the stores to get other toys that children want and this costs money. So some families are willing to pay Santa more money than others. We are one of the families who choose to stay to a stricter budget. If we give Santa more money, they won't be able to pay the house bill or car bill."  They get it and understand. They like living in a house and not on the street.

We stay to a stricter budget, not because we are Scrooges, and are cheap skates. We are trying to be responsible and trying to keep the materialistic part of Christmas to a minimum.

My children know who's birthday is coming up. They go to church each week, being reminded with each purple candle added to the advent wreath. They are reminded when they picked out their Christmas dresses at a resale shop, knowing they will wear it Christmas Eve mass. They are reminded there are others less fortunate when each of my girls picked out a Sharing Tree tag of a child their age and had to purchase the wanted gift with their own money (not mom and dad's).

Are they excited for Santa to come? Are they excited to tare the wrapping paper from gifts labeled to them? Well, of course. =o) They are children.

My job as a parent is to help them understand the reason for the season. To understand that Jesus LOVED US SOOOOOO MUCH, not only didhe save us from sin (which is HUGE and an unpayable gift), but he also told his good buddy, Santa, that he didn't want any birthday gifts and would rather have God's children of world receive them instead. Now that's just pure awesome and completely selfless. <3



From my family to yours, I wish each one of you a wonderful Christmas filled with joy, love, and compassion. I hope you are surrounded by your friends and family, creating memories to cherish in the years to come!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!