Christmas Pondering

Every year Christmas comes and goes...I look around and see the whole message of Christmas has been distorted beyond belief by commercialism. I see people who can barley afford to pay mortgages spending small fortunes on Christmas. I am not a holy roller but to me the message of Christmas is family and love and yes giving to those in need. When I say giving to those in need I DON'T mean giving to ungrateful spoiled children everything there hearts desire. I have seen parents fill the tree with gifts to the point of overflowing. Is that really necessary? Is Billy or Jane really going to play with all those gifts. After about two weeks will they even care that you went through the trouble at all. NO, is the answer and they will be back at you asking for more and more. The message we send children this time of year is love is for sale. How much we buy means I love you that much. I grew up with the same message. I am spending most of my adult life having to get that brainwashed message out of my head. It is not healthy. Love should NEVER be equated with how much you spend on someone. Yet, in America we are so brainwashed. So this year I made a decision. I am not a Scrooge. I just made a decision to bring the real meaning of Christmas back into my life. I will not be buying gifts for people. I did however buy gifts for the nieces and nephew and grandmothers. I will not be spending large amounts though. Just a little token. I instead will donate to the truly needy in our community. It is a weird feeling to make this decision. As Ben and I budgeted tonight..he asked so we won't be buying each other gifts? I stuck to it and said No. It is a little hard but that's what lets me know it is right. I have been so brainwashed and I want no part of it anymore. I feel blessed and fortunate. Christmas is for family and gratitude. My love for those around me is expressed all year long with the time spent together over dinner and celebration. My love is expressed through being there when I am needed and listening to them with an open heart. A 100 dollar gift could NEVER express my love. I don't think any amount of material gift could express a persons love. I am not saying I don't enjoy spending money or giving gifts. I love to do it. I am just learning to question the process of giving gifts. I am sure next year I will do the gift thing again...who knows. I just want to challenge myself this year to go against the mainstream. Maybe there is some grain of knowledge in it for me and those around me. Let me no forget for the Christians and people of faith. It is for sure the time to celebrate a little boy born into the world with a message that would carry us through the ages. Jesus certainly wouldn't approve of the way we carry on in society today on Christmas. I know if I sat down like I used to sometimes and looked through the bible especially the stations of the cross I would once again be brought to tears at what he did for us. I would question myself and ask am I doing enough in the world to make it a better place or not. Will spending money on people do that? Maybe giving to the needy and volunteering time will. Even that would seem to fall short. I think if there is one time a year that we reflect as a nation. It seems to be on Christmas and New Years. We should ponder these questions and get to the heart of the matter. It is not commercialism and filling the tree to overcapacity. It should be time of people you love and gratitude for health, peace and family. A time for people to give of themselves and not with there wallets with there hearts. Teaching children what you have to offer the world is you and that is the greatest gift ever. The toys the reindeer and Santa clauses are fun and festive but are not the meaning we should be teaching. A gift or two yes...the whole store no way. I do not have it all figured out and I am not perfect. I guess I just feel like I am making a small effort to gain true meaning of life as I hope we are all on a journey to do. We are great beings that can think for ourselves and too many times we let t.v. and what people are doing around us decide for us. I just hope that more people open there eyes and at least observe how far we have gotten from the core of humanity. We have evolved in many great ways and in others we have a long ways to go. In some ways to revert back to the older days is a good thing. May we all find the the truth we so despereatly seek.