Christmas is coming. On one hand I'm very excited, but on the other hand I struggle to deal with the frenzy that comes with it. What is the true meaning of Christmas? Of course it means different things to different people, but at it's origin Christmas had one pure motive. Christmas was created to celebrate of the birth of Christ. In present day this is often done through giving gifts to each other, since Jesus isn't really around to receive them himself. To me, this act of giving is definitely one of the most important parts of Christmas, but I easily get so caught up in the giving and receiving that I forget the spirit in which we give. I don't think I'm the only one. A lot of people forget reason we give, and so Christmas becomes this emotional high that ultimately ends in depression, as all of the gifts are unwrapped, the food is eaten and decorations disappear. But the joy of giving is not in the items, but that love that they come from. That love should stay with us all year long. At the center of Christmas is the greatest gift of love ever given: Jesus Christ. So the meaning of Christmas brings us to a different question. How do we give gifts that demonstrate our love for others?
I've struggled a lot with choosing gifts over the years: not wanting to buy gifts that appeared impersonal, but not wanting to make gifts that turned out to be useless and impractical. When I was younger I made cards and paper crafts (I even made an origami duck pond for Santa once!), and as I grew older I turned to more substantial items. I went through a potholder crocheting phase for a few years (I think I made everyone in our extended family at least 4 potholders over the course of time), and a pearl beading phase as well. However, I think I set the bar high for myself when I sewed eight personalized aprons from fabric scraps for my extended family. It gave me such joy to see people unwrap their apron: to see the joy on their face over the personalized design, or recognition of the fabric used. To this day my relatives wear their aprons to cook when I visit, and I remember the love that I poured into that project. Since then I've dabbled in more Christmas sewing projects: pillows, blankets, scarves, yet I've not quite done anything as meaningful as those aprons.
This year will be different. I'm going off to college next year, and though I don't want to grow apart from my extended family, I know it will happen. So, I want to give all of them something truly meaningful, something that will give them joy, and something that they can keep forever. To accomplish this I've decided to letters. Not the card stock kind with the typical message that you sign, but a typed, printed, adorned letter about how each relative has impacted my life, making me the person that I am today. I feel like this is the right time for such a letter, as I move on in to world of adulthood and take a fleeting glance at where I came from. I hope that my small act of writing will in some way strengthen my relationships with relatives and hold them strong through my college years. I hope that these letters will truly be a gift out of love, in the spirit of Christmas.
Grace, this is such a great post. I'm also a victim of forgetting what Christmas is about. It's so easy to get caught up in what you're giving and what you're receiving. I feel like the build-up stress of finding the perfect presents for people blinds us from the fact that Christmas is about celebrating and spreading love and joy.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story about your gift-giving in the past and how you want to try something different this year with your extended family. My family is pretty spread out around the world, so it's always hard to stay in touch due to schedules. And often, I'm so focused on doing things with my immediate family that I forget about the ones in Texas or Europe. So I really like this blog post because it reminded and inspired me to do more for Christmas in terms of connecting more with my extended family. I think that the letters are a really sweet, personal, and love-filled gift. I hope it all goes well.
And I know it's early, but Merry Christmas!
Aww, thanks! I'm glad you were inspired. Merry Christmas to you too!
DeleteI still have and use the potholder that my younger cousin gave me years ago. He is now a bearded fifth grade teacher living on his own in San Fransisco, but when I look at his pot holder, I still see the beaming fifth grader that he was when he made it :)
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