The Holidays

If you are anthing like me the holidays are already feeling as though they are creepiing up on you and just around the corner.  Most of all we are all thinking about the money we will spend that we don't have.  Some will max out their credit cards to ensure that they get just the right gift for each person on their list and even the perefect gift that will impress.  It's sad how much emphasis there is on the monetary aspects of Chirstmas and so little emphasis on what Chirstmas truly means even if we take the religious aspect out of the equation.  We even have lists of things we want to be given and every year families make lists of the one thing they want versus things they don't want.  It has become so stressful that there are people who opt completely out of it and go on vacation to the Bahamas or check out of the entire ordeal.  Sad as it may seem we live in a society that places more importance on a pretty sweater than they do on a beautiful smile and the love of family and friends.

It is harder and harder to figure out what to focus on.  Do we focus on the decorations so as to outdo the neighbors, with more lights on our home than that of others?  Do we focus on the expensive gift for our five year old child who would be just as happy with a five dollar gift?  Is Chirstmas about us or about them?  Is it really more about impressing our friends and other parents?  It seems that way and it feels like that is the struggle we undergo each year.  Trying to figure out what Chirstmas really means and what the value of this holiday is.  It is a fight to the finish trying to either avoid spending too much or figuring out how to get all the gifts for everyone on your list.

Oddly enough many of the people I know keep saying that this year will be different from other years.  For example my family is saying that they are not going to buy gifts this year for any of the adults.  Last year we said it and then there were protests because of course some of the adult children wanted to get a gift.  This year I hope we will win the battle and that we will finally allow ourselves to let go of the commercial aspect of it and place our focus on what Chistmas really is about: family, love, sharing and enjoying each other.

So this year we will make our very best effort to make the holidays about love and sharing.  This year we hope to be different from other years and to make it about family and about sharing our love with each other.  This time we will sing songs and not do the gifts but instead write love letters on heart so read to one another and pray before we eat our pot luck dinner.  This time it will be about being happy to be alive and to have each other to laugh and dance with.  This year Christmas will be different.  It will be what it's meant to be: sacred and divine.  It will be about love and connection.  It will be about loving each other and not having any wish list except to be healthy and whole.