Why are holidays, especially Christmas -- so stressful? It may be because we're all determined to make *this* Christmas the BEST ever. Who wouldn't like to wake up inside a greeting card on Christmas? You know... a perfect tree, neatly wrapped presents, fresh coffee brewing, and no heat verging on 42 degrees. Think about it. Memories of Christmas are not so much of Christmas morning as they are the days leading up to Christmas... mounting expectation, growing wonder at the approaching moment.
In the days preceding Christmas we see children dancing with excitement -- they are thrilled with the adventure. It's a time of hopes and dreams. The afterglow of Christmas never seems as glorious as the days before. Christmas is like life. Satisfaction comes from living it, not in having lived it. We're all on a pilgrimage, and one way or another we'll all arrive at the end. It's the paths we choose, the people we meet, and the detours we take that give pleasure and meaning to our travels.
Simple presents given with love and joy are treasured more than the hurried gifts of necessity, obligation, or guilt. We don't validate ourselves as parents by the things we leave under the tree on Christmas morning. Our gifts are only extensions of who we are the rest of the year. We can't purchase pleasure. But we can create it. We can build memories by taking time to share the journey and excitement. Thinking back to all our Christmas yesterdays... how many presents do we actually recall? Which burns brighter in memory? Forgotten gifts? Or the feelings of love, family, and sharing? How much money do we REALLY need to spend on Christmas? Hardly a cent. How much time should we spend on Christmas? All of it.
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