Where Is The Joy?

                                         Everyday is a brand new day, everyday is a journey.


Here we are a week and half away from Christmas and yet, one wouldn't know that just by what is in our hearts. . . or at least in mine. 

What has happened to Christmas in my life? There doesn't seem to be any time to ponder what Christmas means  this time around. There barely is enough time to do all of our shopping and preparation for the big dinner. Everything seems to be more of a checklist than an enjoyment.
 
 The older I get, the more I yearn for the simple things in life, especially during this Holiday Season. How I would love to have an ordinary, basic Christmas where the focus was on family time (playing games), on Jesus Birth and the only gifts were the ones we made ourselves. Why can't we have a Christmas like that?

There is always someone in the family who wants to make the Holiday about the children and their gifts. We make such a huge deal about providing bigger and better gifts for the kids. We always want to give them what we never had, but I believe there is an even bigger gift we can teach them. . . . . the gift of Jesus, the gift of compassion and caring. 

Instead, we stress out over the money, the food, the gifts and how we will make all of that happen without going into debt. We stress out whether the sister-in-law or brother-in-law will like the gift I bought for their child. Is it fancy enough? Does it look too cheap? There is nothing more insulting than someone asking for the receipt so they can return the gift, because it wasn't up to their standard.  Or even worse, parents volunteering information on their own  on what they think would make the perfect gift for their child, usually a very expensive one.

Do I sound a little gloomy? Probably, but I'm so tired of the materialism, the hype and of Santa Claus. People have lost the true message of Christmas even though they will argue and write on Facebook the opposite. One of the best memories I have are the ones where we sat around doing nothing but chatting and laughing. I don't need two types of turkeys, a ham and fifty presents under the tree to make that happen. 

Have a Blessed day everyone.