In a rare stretch outside my comfort zone, I went to the mall, on a Saturday, in the height of Christmas shopping frenzy. Within the first five minutes of navigating one of the larger anchor stores, I remembered all too clearly why I rarely shop in a mall, most especially during the Christmas season.
Sensory overload is enough to short out brain circuits, and I’m convinced it adds to the all too prevalent ill-humor and bad manners of shoppers. Too many people, too much stuff and the overbearing pressure to buy, Buy, BUY, can choke the life out of a person, and no where do I feel that more than in the women’s pocketbook department.
On this particular shopping trip, amid a sea of leather and suede with price tags often matching the weekly salary of the average citizen, I felt a new appreciation for the adage, "Gone to hell in a handbag."
Hundreds of purses in various sizes, shapes and colors made choosing one small gift a near impossibility and seemed more the mirror of excess reflected throughout a store jammed with merchandise. With just a few days left until Christmas the air among shoppers was one of urgency and aggravation; something certainly antithetical to the expectant waiting and joy that Christians should find during Advent.
Since my cynicism was threatening to snuff out my Christmas spirit, I decided no sale was worth selling my soul. Home, a warm cup of tea and my favorite hymns would be the antidote. I wasn’t expecting a touching email from one of my sons to help put everything back in perspective.
He, like so many, is struggling with the very challenging economic times, and the pressure to maintain the cultural standard of Christmas is taking a toll on him. He wrote, "I know that this holiday season has been the most stressful one for me ever and I am going to assume the same is true for you. I know you like to get nice gifts for everyone and you always seem to do it somehow— frankly its a mystery to me— but I don't know how you'll pull it off this year. So I don't want you to feel obligated to spend more than you should or more than you can. Don't feel bad if you can't get me (or anyone else) what you really wanted. This year, don't worry about gifts. Take comfort in knowing that we'll all understand and that we don't expect much anyway. I think I speak for all the boys when I say that we enjoy Christmas morning for the spirit of the day; the company and the love of one another. No matter how many gifts are under your tree, it's the celebration that we all enjoy most."
His touching message brought to mind the simple nativity set that sits on our front lawn, reminding me that the spirit of Christmas rests with the Holy Family, the embodiment of God’s love for us. Christmas is about relationship: God and us, Mary and Joseph, Jesus and the whole world. Even the story of the magi is about their need to be in relationship with the savior of the world. Their gifts were mere expressions of that desire. Somehow we have allowed the focus on gifts to become a distraction from the profound meaning of the celebration—God’s desire to be in relationship with us, becoming one of us within the womb of family.
For many, this Christmas may be a different sort of Christmas. Whether it is a simplicity forced upon us by economic hardship, or a refocusing on the gift of relationship as we find "family" among our friends or sit vigil in a hospital room, we can be comforted by keeping the image of the Nativity in our hearts.
More than just a tender greeting card image, the Holy Family leads us back to the only gift that matters—Love.
Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
Attributed to seven year old child
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