The pregame warm-up is over.
Now the mad dash to Christmas begins.
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not the biggest fan of Christmas. For many years, the best part of Christmas was the Hallmark Movies (and their precursor, Lifetime Movies), and any reader of last week’s blog knows how I love those.
The part of Christmas I like the least is gift-giving. Yes, this makes me a scrooge. I know. And I will say upfront that I except kids from this rant. All kids should get presents for Christmas. Except for the deeply religious, I think Christmas is all about the kids. The Santa Window (the time when kids are old enough to know what the heck is going on and young enough to believe) is short and everyone should take full advantage of it.
But I’m talking about adult gift-giving. And especially gift-giving to people who aren’t that close to you. Generic gifts: candles, lottery tickets, ugly sweaters, Christmas-themed iPhone cases. Please, no.
I’ve been on a crusade to eliminate Christmas gift-giving from my life. It’s taken a few years—people who love giving gifts are loathe to give it up, but I’ve been persistent. And so after a years-long dwindling down process, over the last two years I’ve received no Christmas presents and given out precious few (and all to kids).
To some of you, this may sound horrible.
But for me? It’s made me love Christmas again.
It’s glorious. I put up my Christmas tree and decorate. I used to refuse to put a tree up in protest.
I don’t have some glorious anti-consumerist agenda going on here. I just don’t want another candle, toilet joke book, or body lotion. I need no more gloves. Or chocolates. Or ornaments.
I just want to spend time with the ones I love, enjoy a meal, see friends, and remember what I’m grateful for.
And this year, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
I hope you all enjoy this holiday season!