Christmas Season

The craziest weekend of the year just ended, ushering us into what is suppose to be a holy time of year: The Christmas season.  Thanksgiving Day I went to Wal-Mart in need of cheddar cheese for the green bean casserole I was requested to make for our Thanksgiving dinner.  It was eerily quiet, as it was only 10:00AM, and the madness of Black Friday (Really, Black Thursday) had yet to start.  While roaming the aisles, I found myself shimmying through and over huge crates covered in saran wrap with the coming hour's deals... "Buy this toy for $20 - BLACK FRIDAY ONLY."  And while I was there, I felt tears brimming in my eyes.  I was overcome with sadness of what our culture seems to concentrate on when we are to be giving thanks for what we already have.  It seems with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, many of us get caught up in the consumerism of it all.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good deal just like anyone else.  I appreciate saving money when I can, and now that I am a "stay-at-home-mom," our sole source of income comes from my husband.  I am grateful.  But I have a hard time when the season that is suppose to be marked with first gratitude and then reverence of our Savior's birth turns into a total marketing scheme. And we take the bait.

I find myself wondering how I am suppose to raise a son in this sort of environment.  How am I suppose to teach him to value the coming and birth of our Beloved Savior while presents, toys, want, want, want are constantly ingrained into what seems to be every fiber of our being?

I realize it really has to start with me (and my husband).  I have got to get back to the simplicity of what this season means.  It is a holy time.  It is a time for family and a time to reflect on what we have and feel grateful.  It is a time to give to those in need, as opposed to continue to feed my (and my family's) wants.  It is a time for us to be "Merry" because we have so much to celebrate.  As the lyrics to
"Holy Night" ring, we have the "thrill of hope, [as] the weary world rejoices!  For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!"  I have much to be merry about this holiday and Christmas season.

(This adorable card and others like it can be found here).