The Week before Christmas

Starting the countdown now. The stress and anxiety of this time of year gets to me. I haven't really liked to decorate my tree since I worked as a visual display manager in a major department store. The year I had to decorate and maintain and undecorate 72 trees was the kicker for me. I didn't put a tree up for years until my girls were born. Then it was because of them. As I have gotten older tho I really see how the Spirit of Christmas giving has become highjacked by secular commercialism. The true Spirit behind the gift isn't there. It's become 'gotta get a gift cos he/she is going to get me one' or no real thought goes into the gifts. Its so easy to walk into Wal-Mart or Big-Lots or the store of your choice and just start picking up random thngs that you think someone might like. And the truth be known, how many of you have ever gotten what you might have really wanted? I asked for bath towels every year. Honestly, I do. That is a gift that for this household there is a true need. I don't know what happens to our towels. Two teenaged girls that bath umpteen times a day just wears those little terries right off the towel. Have I ever gotten towels for Christmas. Hmmmm yeah. But not for the last 10 years. My Daddy always gave us a huge gift certificate to Sears and we would go and load up on nice thick thirsty bath sheets. He died 10 years ago. So now I just ask for towels and then go and buy them myself at random times. If anyone asks me I also ask for art supplies. That doesn't happen often either. Those gift cards from Hobby Lobby or Micheals are wonderful. I guess folks don't think its personal enough. I love to give a gift card to someone. You know why? Because I don't really know what to give someone. If I pick out a book at Books A Million, they will probably already have it. Can't tell you how many times that has happened to me. I love cookbooks but not everyone cooks except for my sister and she already owns most of the ones that I have been looking at. My taste in clothing is not like anyone else I know. So its hard for me to pick out something other than comfy PJ's or a t-shirt with a smart saying on the front. Then there is that price issue. As hard as I try NOT to let it bother me, I can't spend a lot of money on each person and it bothers me when someone gives me a gift that I know is way more than I would spend or even be able to spend.

We started out with our girls giving them just a few gifts. Things that they can truly use that they wouldn't get normally in the course of the year. But nothing extravagant. There are no i-pods or game cubes or x-boxes here. Lots of books and movies and games (the kind you have to sit down and play with other people around the table and interact with!)

I wish that I could one day just tell people to give to the food pantry in my name. That would give me much pleasure. I have been blessed with having a roof over my head and I can still work to pay the bills. It's tight around here but we still have food. I don't like to see people that are truly in need and there are many here. Regardless of why they don't have enough is not a big deal. Some are too old to work anylonger. Some are too ill. Some have screwed up their lives so badly that people look down their noses at them and won't give them a chance so they don't even try any more. But they are still human beings made in the image of God and Jesus welcomed all to his table. I have to tell myself that everyday and think, 'am I the Samaritan or the person that looked the other way and walked on the other side of the road to avoid the person in need?'

This Christmas, give in the Spirit of the One that we want to be like. The gifts don't have to be huge and elaborate. They just really need to be from the heart and be something that the other person really doesn't have. Have a blessed Christmas and New Year