We wish all of our readers a wonderful (and stress free!) holiday season. A lot of women are out shopping for the family, not just seeking gifts to purchase, but also getting prepared for the family feasts.
But remember to take it easy and to relax a bit. It can be challenging because we are hit with Christmas and the idea of shopping from all avenues. We get daily emails from stores announcing their sales, specials and free shipping. Our apps may even have commercials running through them on our smart phones. Then don’t even mention television. Television commercials are the most aggressive of all. If we listen to them then life itself can take on a different meaning. “Every kiss begins with Kay” and if he doesn’t “go to Jared,” we can make the man in our life feel like he’s nothing. So relax and take it easy. Gift giving and receiving is not the beginning or the end of the world.
I had a really interesting conversation with my daughter today. She and her husband have decided not to purchase gifts for each other because they are dealing with expensive car repair issues with both of their vehicles. I for one am glad that they are going through this. It gives them a chance to sit back and reevaluate their usual spending behavior for the holiday. This year there is no massive mailing of Christmas cards; there’s no running around the stores shopping for each other and all of their friends. There is just the quiet feeling of a new perspective of everything is okay even if we’re not out doing all of these things and spending all of this money.
You don’t have to participate in the Christmas holiday in the way the media dictates that you do. Their goal is to make profits and to feed their bottom line. The only way they can do that is to convince us that it is our duty to shop.
Even year I find myself explaining to people why I don’t celebrate Christmas in the manner in which most people do. I don’t get into the hype. I don’t shop; I don’t buy gifts. This year for the first time in many years I made some Seasons Greetings cards and sent them out simply because I would like to reciprocate for the many cards that I receive every year.
My big celebration of this holiday is to coordinate an annual toy drive at the company that I work for. It is an opportunity to help other parents give their children and teenagers something for Christmas who would otherwise get nothing. This is special because these children probably don’t get things year round. Their clothes are used or hand me downs and if they have toys to play with, they are probably fairly limited with what they have and may not usually get something brand new of their own. To stand there every year when the truck comes to pick up all of the donations we’ve collected gives me a thrill.
What I wish I could give these children most of all is the ability to tap into their inner selves to develop their gifts of music, art, dance, theater, etc. It is so important to me that we give children (and adults) these things. To help someone develop themselves from the inside out is imperative. We all need to be given or to take the opportunity to do this. Life is music. Life is a dance. Life is art. If I had my way, I would buy a truck load of cheap fender jaguar bass at Musicians Friend, along with pianos, drums, harps and anything else that can be played and makes sound and give them away to children everywhere. I would much rather see a child learning how to play guitar than to play video games that teach them to kill things. Ah well, enough of my ranting…
Please tell us what is important to you at Christmas time? How do you celebrate?