so, wow, we went from thanksgiving straight into Christmas....and it's not even december yet. actually, let's admit it, the christmas decorations were in the store practically the day after halloween. does it get earlier every year? whatever, unless you are 12 or younger, you are likely tired of christmas before it even arrives. and why woudl you want to be tired for christmas. you're supposed to be spednign time with family and making nice dinners together and helping out at some local organization and trying to work for a better world and making the world a better beautiful place....at least that's what i think jesus would have wanted, isn't that his whole sotry really...trying to make the world a better place?
and is that accomplished by going out and spending lots of money and time and getting stressed about shopping for people whom are doing the same for you? and then we all go home at the end of the day and are not happy because we are stressed and don't feel like we spend enough time together and so sometimes we aren't even nice to those same people we just went shopping for.
instead, imagine waking up with same special people, spending the day together on some outdoor adventure, volunteering, or just hanging out at home working on projects. then eat dinner together and paly a family game. wow...all of a sudden that sounds a lot more appealing right...and less stressful. i had a wonderful time over thanksgiving with my family. one part i won't forget is i was trying to make a bunch of beads and my parents and brother sat down and helped me for an hour, it was so nice just sitting there, working on a project and chatting.
now, my family is fairly traditional when it comes to christmas. both sides of the family still love buying christmas presents and in our big family of 6 the presents come exploding out from under the tree. some of those things i wouldn't want to control....i will not call my grandparents and wax on environmentally and sustainably for a good long time so that they stop buying us stuff. i think that would be, well, rude. they honestly love doing it and think it's fun and i can only be thankful for what i might recieve. with my immediate family it may be a little differnet. we all appreciate our time together and hvae often times made homemade gifts. by speakign gently and explaining what i really want at christmas time (love, time together and eachother) i think my family will understand.
it's a difficult path to manuever as none of us want to insult others or make them think we don't appreciate all they do. that said, if we want to make christmas more about what it really is (a celebration of the birth of a wonderful example of love and selflessness) we can approach the discussion with the same love that we want to impart to the holiday.
and here's what bill mckibben has to say about that.
Are you brave enough to say no to a high-stress holiday? By Bill McKibben
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