‘Tis the Season

Deck the halls, bake the goodies, buy the presents and – OH WAIT a second here…

The one thing that Christmas does for me is warm my heart. That is what I believe it is intended to do for all of us. To rejoice – renew – and cherish our loved ones. All too often we get caught up in the commercialization of Christmas and lose site of the magic that the season brings.

I am not talking about Religion and “what the meaning of Christmas really is”… I’m talking about what the season brings.

What I love most about Christmas is family, friends and festivities. Togetherness. Love. Generosity. However, I  can get caught up in the marketing, the commercialization and the shopping extravaganza! Then I find myself getting stressed over purchasing things. It’s insanity really – and every year I say I won’t get caught up in it and then I do.

What I have to remember is that I have only a few memories of the ‘things‘ that I got. My Monchichi was one of the memorable gifts I received; he was my prized possession. I loved that doll so much! I slept with it nightly and in the midst of snuggling him over time I ended up chewing the thumb right off that thing. It was years later that my mom had to convince me to let go of him. I unwilling did, although I didn’t want to….  But I have digressed.

The point is my childhood memories of Christmas are NOT the gifts that I opened on Christmas morning, I can’t remember what half of them were. My childhood memories are giggling in bed with my big sister and believing that I saw Rudolph’s nose flying through the sky. My memories are going to visit my Grandma, my Nanny and Uncles & Aunties – spending time with my cousins while the adults sat and visited with each other. Memories of eating grapefruit on Christmas morning before opening presents – YES MY MOM made us do that. Snapping Christmas crackers at dinner time and reading the jokes, wearing the funky hats and playing with the little prize that came inside the cracker.

What I need to remember is that the gifts are JUST things. What people most often remember are experiences. It’s about time. Time spent with the kids while we are ‘baking’ cookies or wrapping presents for others. The time spent with friends.The hectic coordination of getting the entire family together – to make it happen. The love, the laughter, the joy. That is what it means to me…. I must remember this and stop myself when I go to that place of commercialized insanity.

Family, kids, and the magic of Christmas is where it’s at. It’s simple. Just look at this face and maybe you too will see that the magic really is in the spirit of Christmas.

From the bottom of my heart I wish you a Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

#Giving #Memories #Christmas #Children #Commercialization