Contemplating How We Approach Christmas

I have been, or can be if you click on a link and make a purchase, compensated via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value for writing this post. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

It’s now a few days after Christmas and I’ve been contemplating a few things while cleaning and doing after Christmas shopping. (Yes, I am one of the crazy people who shop for next year’s Christmas items as well as treats when marked down.)

Specifically, I’ve been thinking about how easily our family allows the commercialization of Christmas to enter our house.

I start with the best of intentions to have the focus be on the wonderful gift God gave us through the Incarnation.  And, I like to have a focus on spending time together as a family.

However, guilt nags at me and every year I end up with what I consider to be an unreasonably large pile of stuff to be wrapped and placed under the tree. 

Maybe this stems from years back when I tried to keep things to a minimum and my husband (who might have felt deprived as a child) went out to buy more so the boys had ‘plenty’ of things to open.

Ironically, it usually isn’t anything for me.  Rather, I save several of the movies bought on sale during their release week plus others picked up at a bargain rate on Black Friday to then provide several movie nights throughout the year. 

And, last year we discovered that Costco and Sam’s Club mark their Christmas goodies (e.g. candy) down on Christmas Eve.  So, the boys all got individual bags of chocolate and ‘snowballs’ for treats over the next few weeks.

We did attend Mass as a family on Christmas morning.  Plus, there was a simple, but elegant Christmas dinner using my china.  But, thoughts of having gone overboard in the commercial realm continued to plague me.

 

Do you or a family member suffer from this same affliction? 

Or, am I alone in joining other Americans who find themselves overspending on their children in the hopes of making it a fantastic Christmas morning?

 

I’ve been deep in thought and prayer over this.  I’ve even had some sleepless nights wondering if there’s anything bought for myself and not used that I can return for a credit so I do not have to worry about how much was spent.  That lack of ease is what really clued me in on how easily I was sucked into going a bit overboard this year.

What I really long for is a simpler Christmas where boys do not compare gifts received to years past or what a brother received.  No adding up of how much was spent on them.

Rather, I want them to place the focus upon the true reason for this season every year… Christ.

 

O Come Let Us Adore Him!

 

 

 

   My friend Trish over at A House Upon the Rock is joining me in co-hosting this 40 day meme.   We will not be doing a daily link-up, but rather a weekly one.  If you blog more than once a week, please add each link to the link-up, we’d love to find you and read what you are doing and learning as you seek Him. ~~~~~~~~~ Please consider joining us as we Seek Him for the next 40 days.   We will celebrate from the first day of Advent through Epiphany on Jan. 6th. If joining us on the 40 Days of Seeking Him meme, please link directly to your post.  Every week we will link up and share what we are doing, learning or how we celebrate the birth of our Lord. You are more than welcome to link up to more than one post each week if you’ve written multiple posts on the topic of Advent and growing closer to Christ. Please feel free to join once a week, every day, or as many times as you are able. If you post more than once, add each link to the link-up. We will not have new link-ups each day, but once a week (every Sunday a new link-up will start).   Thank you for joining us.  I look forward to reading your posts (as many as I possibly can) as we share what we are doing to prepare our hearts for the most wonderful gift God gave us ~ Jesus Christ.