I am beginning to realize, since God always knows what He is doing, He wanted me to be single this Christmas. I was able to focus on Him more than any other Christmas season. There will only be a few more years, hopefully, that I will be able to just enjoy Christmas with my family by myself. I know it will be a joy when I’m married someday too, but it is also nice to be able to have to only worry about your own family. I was also able to focus on my family more, since this year was actually one of the very rare times all of my siblings and I were together in the house at the same time. It was nice seeing Gavin, who now just turned two, beginning to get somewhat of a grasp of why there is a random tree in our house, there are so many presents, and the house is chaotic. Okay, so maybe he didn’t understand a reason for any of those crazy things, but at least he was able to take notice of it all. It brought so much joy to my heart attempting to show him how to leave cookies and milk for Santa, and seeing him just eat all of the cookies for himself. (I taught him well. Haha.)
Besides my personal and family reasons why Christmas was different I began to notice things on a different level. I feel like so many get away from the true meaning of Christmas, and some don’t even mean to. So many get swept under by some major distractions like; presents, boyfriends/girlfriends, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, fighting about where to spend Christmas, movies, Santa and all of that jazz. It is easy to get lost amidst all of the Christmas traditions. I feel like so many people get loaded down with so much stress around this season, which is disheartening because this should be a relaxing time spent with our Savior and family. I feel like the holiday stress would lighten if they got down to the true meaning and made things a lot simpler.
Things could be a lot simpler if families chose to get each other only one present. Where did this idea of getting like 10 or more presents from your parents come into play? Is it really necessary? I understand it is fun for parents when their children are young, but as for most of my family, we are all old enough for things to be made a lot simpler. What if we all just got one gift for each other? One meaningful gift. Then there wouldn’t be so much build up about presents and the disappointment of getting useless crap or not getting what you wanted. I know Secret Santa with my siblings took off the stress of only having to buy one present instead of having to buy, lets see, six presents? I just don’t see the point in going overboard with presents, especially since the average American is already in debt.
I find it sad and almost unsettling when people get so stressed about presents. Don’t even get me started about Black Friday. If you know me, I love people watching. So as I was standing in line, I witnessed a woman getting all flustered about if she was getting all of the right presents. She began to complain of burning up and started taking off her jacket. Then not even a minute later, she began to complain of a major headache. I almost wanted to walk over to the woman, put a hand on her and say, it’s going to be okay. Then another night when I was out shopping around 9:00 pm I witnessed a mother and a daughter shopping. The toddler began to throw a fit and cry as her mother tried to juggle holding her and shopping at the same time. The mother, getting frustrated began to spank her child again and again and act completely fed up with her. I couldn’t stand seeing a helpless child being treated like that, all over stupid Christmas presents. Sure, maybe the girl had been acting up, but did the mother ever stop to think about how late she had her daughter out shopping? How her child should have been settling down into her bed instead of dragged out shopping? I guess what I am trying to say is presents can be stressful and distracting from the main reason for the season. Don’t get me wrong, I know for some, including me, it is more fun to give than receive, but what if we all spent some of our Christmas money on how much we should be tithing to the church, or spent it on the less fortunate that can’t even afford to buy their child a toy truck. Presents, in my opinion, seem so blown out of proportion.
There’s also the stress of meals, at least for my mother. Things could be made a lot simpler if every one pitched in. What if everyone was in charge of making one dish? Even if everyone was together for a couple of days instead of one day, people could take turns of which meal they were to cook.
I just find, for most, Christmas isn’t really spent focusing on Jesus. How many families talk about Jesus outside of the church service they attend for an hour and a half? Is that how long the average Christian is willing to spend this season focusing on Jesus? I know my family doesn’t spend much time actually spent focusing on Jesus. Sure we go to church, sure we pray differently for our dinner that night, but is that all the time of day we are going to give God? I think it would be nice to start some new traditions in this family that aren’t necessarily spent on the secular aspects, but truly getting down to what Christmas is really about.
These are just my thoughts of what I have realized this Christmas season. I know every family is different, but I know at least in mine, it would be great if we could spend a little more time on Jesus than on all of the other fun aspects of the season. Sure, I love going and getting a Christmas tree, even though my family has a fake one now. I also love listening to songs about sleigh rides, jingle bells and decking the halls. It’s so nice to drink hot cocoa and watch a good Christmas movie. Sadly none of these things are about Jesus, and about Jesus’ birth. So my point is to get across it isn’t just about spending time with family and all of the fun traditions but it is all about...
4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
