The Briar Philosopher - Christmas Presence

By now, the leftovers from Thanksgiving have all been gobbled up and those who are so inclined have that Christmas tree up and decorated. The excitement among children is beginning to build as they anticipate the magic of Christmas morning. 

Parents are juggling budgets in hopes of giving their children a magical Christmas in spite of inflation. Seems like every year we try to do more, buy more, give more. It’s like we’re competing with ourselves to outdo what we did last year.  Now, I understand a lot of that.  I love giving people presents for any reason, any time. I just enjoy seeing their face light up over some unexpected wished-for thing. If I ever won the lottery, I’d be broke inside a week because I couldn’t help but give. Giving makes me happy.  I don’t say that to cast myself in a good light. It’s just in my nature. I can’t help it, so I really can’t take credit for it.  I think most of us are that way, really, and that is undoubtedly what drives our desire to do more and give more and spend more every year. 

Of course, in such a consumer-driven culture, all of it isn’t the sweetness and light of loving and giving. Much of what will be purchased in the next several weeks will have more to do with societal expectations and rampant consumerism than with that much-loved story of a child whose birth gave the world light and hope.  I wonder sometimes if there’s really much Christ left in Christmas at all, despite the annual cry that we keep him in the holiday. Somehow, we’ve gotten way off message. I can’t bring myself to believe that the child in that story would judge us by the size and decorations of our tree or by the amount of credit card debt we were willing to go into so that someone could have the latest gadget. Those two thoughts collide in my head every year, and I just can’t reconcile them.  I understand wanting to see the joy on someone’s face, but it has gotten beyond that. Our expectations of what brings joy have pretty much all turned to things that can be bought and sold. It feels somehow that the moneychangers have been put in charge of the temple again. People will be filling their hearts with stress instead of joy, worrying that a child will be disappointed in a simpler gift, comparing their gatherings to made-up television and movie magic, and feeling like they somehow didn’t measure up.  Christmas has become a competition we’re trying to win instead of a reflection of what we have received and an attempt to share that gift with others.  That’s not true of everyone, of course, but the numbers are way up there.

No one will be surprised that I prefer a simpler approach to the season.  The holiday will be a lot more about presence than about presents. There won’t be a lot of tinsel and ribbon purchased, nor a lot of expensive gifts. We’ll see to it that our grandson and granddaughter get a few things they would really like, but even those won’t be too expensive. He’s nine and she’s two so most things will be simple toys and games and books, things that will enrich their hours, not just fill them with distraction.  There will be a tree and lights and I’ll make cookies. His only request for celebration so far this year is to go see the Christmas lights and drink hot chocolate. Between his mother and the Boy and me, I’m sure we can make that happen. We will be present in his life, and we will be grateful for the presence of both the younguns and their mother in ours. For ourselves, there will probably be a couple of simple gifts exchanged. These will be symbols of the love we bear for one another, but we won’t let the love get lost in the symbol.  That’s what it really boils down to, I think. It doesn’t really matter how expensive or inexpensive the gift is or how much the gathering and decorations may or may not cost. What really matters is that we keep our hearts focused on the love that we share and don’t let it get lost in the glitter of the symbols. Think of that as you plan your holiday this year. Let yourself be moved by love, and the holiday will take care of itself because, after all, isn’t love what Christmas is really all about? “For God so LOVED the world…”