The view out of my window is quite pretty at night! There is a little bit of snow to reflect the Christmas lights up and down the street. My Christmas tree is up and lit. As the song says, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”!
One of our customs around Christmas is to give gifts. Now there are more children in the family so I’m finding myself looking for toys, clothing and maybe a book or two for the little ones. My parents can’t get out much to shop so they tend to go with gift cards and something from a gift catalogue. The United Church of Canada has a catalogue called Gifts with Vision (available on line) that gives people the opportunity to help others who are in need at Christmas from many different parts of the world. Sometimes the suggestions are gifts of chickens and goats, other times bursaries to help with further education. There is quite a wide selection of both cost and possibilities available.
Sometimes we can get so caught up in the consumer side of Christmas that we are overwhelmed with the work of preparing for it. Now that we are only days away from the “Big Day” maybe we can take a moment to step back and remember what it is really all about. It’s certainly not about who has the most gifts under the tree!
The custom of gift giving started with the ones we call Wise Men, or Magi. They brought gifts to the baby Jesus. The gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh were small, but very precious gifts, suitable for those who had far to travel to reach the Child. They were also very useful for Mary and Joseph when they fled to Egypt. They could be sold so that they could buy food and the other necessities for a fleeing refugee family with a small child.
In some traditions, the giving of gifts is separated from Christmas, and takes place either earlier, or later. Some give children gifts on St. Nicholas’ Day which is December 6th, while others give their gifts on Epiphany (the 12th day of Christmas), January 6th in honour of the Magi. Either way, it leaves Christmas as a religious holiday, to celebrate the birth of Christ, without the gift exchange.
For the last several years my family has scaled back on giving each other gifts, concentrating instead on enjoying each other’s company and having a meal together. It takes a lot of the pressure off to find gifts, and that helps in January, when the bills come in too!
However you choose to celebrate Christmas, I hope that you and your family enjoy the time together, and that you find true joy and peace in the coming of the Christ Child. Merry Christmas!
