When I was younger, I can remember the feeling I would get around Christmas time. The expectation of family meals and seeing relatives, the activities that surrounded it at school and at church, and the presents. As I grew older and began to learn the real meaning behind it and experience the truth of what Christmas is all about, these traditions became much richer in terms of what they would offer a person. The purpose of the Holiday family meals began to give them more value. Seeing relatives that you don't see as often would help you reconnect to people who love you, even those who may only love you because they are obligated by genetic disposition to love you (love you only because you are family). The ways you celebrate and the things you are celebrating are felt more deeply as you mature. Yes, and even the most shallow of traditions gains in meaning as you learn to enjoy giving as much (or more so) as receiving.
In my past, I had experiences that cause Christmas, holidays, and being around family to be more of a hassle than a joy. It came to the point that Christmas was something I dread, I was expected to do more and more each year and having trouble living up to expectations. Christmas became something for me to get through, some kind of large chore to complete. Due to personal loss, Christmas also became a reminder of what and who I had lost in my life. I began to see it as something I did not enjoy. I tried my best to avoid ruining others joy in the holidays but I am aware that I even put a hamper on those around me that I care for most. Even the presents had lost their appeal in that I was not giving to others and those who gave to me were trying to do so with little knowledge of myself. This was not their fault, however, because I did not express myself or put myself out there for others.
So in the spirit of trying to improve myself, my wife and I attempted to adopt the excitement that our little one has had about Christmas since before Halloween. So once Thanksgiving was taken care of this year, we decided to get the Christmas decorations out and started moving furniture in living room to make a place for our Christmas tree. By the end of the weekend after Thanksgiving, We had completed our Christmas shopping for our son, I had completed my shopping for my wife, and we had put up our indoor Christmas decorations, including our Christmas tree in the living room and we decided to decorate our old 3ft tree in our son's room. I say this as not to brag, but rather to show how you can act your way in to new ways of thinking, just as you can think your way into new ways of acting. It started off as a "fake it until you make it" type thing. Before the weekend was over, we were watching Christmas movies and getting excited for Christmas events. We even started singing Christmas carols in spite of being a staunch critic of the radio stations that started their wall to wall Christmas formats two weeks ago (I'm talking about you, Q99). My wife and I have started to get really into the Christmas spirit. Now, we were not so bold as to try to venture out on the stores on Black Friday. However, due to being on a savings kick, I lost my taste for shopping at physical retailers because I get frustrated when I don't see exactly what I am looking for and wasting the time and expense of going to these stores when I could have found it online with little effort and time wasted.
I am excited about Christmas this year. I am looking forward to trying to make Christmas something very special for my young one, which will make it something very special for me again. I am very thankful for everything I've been blessed with and I hope that I can be a blessing to others.
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