Happy birthday, Jesus!

What does Christmas mean to you? This is something I have been thinking about more and more in recent years. For most of my life it meant gifts.. specifically receiving gifts! To me, it was a day where Santa, your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends showered you with gifts. I would spend the month leading up to Christmas writing, editing, and re-writing my Christmas list.

In seventh grade, I wanted what all of the other girls at my new school had: Adidas winter jacket, JNCO wide-leg jeans, and some Puma cheerleading shoes. They had to be these brands and exact same style too. I also asked for some CDs.. I think I was probably listening to Backstreet Boys at the time. I think I got some Reeboks and a Fiona Apple CD.. which was completely unacceptable. I probably stewed in dissatisfaction for the following week.

As I mentioned in my previous post, it was probably what Santa could afford at the time, but money and budgets are a really hard concept for most children to understand. Children in other countries would have been ecstatic to have shoes of any brand, thrilled that they had anything to put on their feet. I was spoiled.. for some reason I had developed an attitude of entitlement.

I, like a lot of children in America, have never known real hardships and assume toys and brand name clothing are owed to us.. while food and clean water are luxuries to other children. Now that I am starting a family of my own, I often think about how I want to raise my children. I want my children to be unassuming and selfless. I think expectations and ideals begin to cultivate at a very young age. I want to start a new tradition for my family where we put less emphasis on material items and more emphasis on enjoying and appreciating our blessings and also on doing more for others.  

I still love presents! But I realize now that the most valuable thing in life is time spent with loved ones. I want to focus more on the act of giving than receiving.. I also realize that money spent does not equate to love, and there are many other ways to give.. Throughout the year I often get wrapped up in my own wants and desires.. It's easy to do that when all of your needs (and beyond) are met. I need to remember that. I hope to continue to grow as a person and to continue to strive to be the type of person I wish my unborn children to be.. to TRY to be more like who we are celebrating today! I will cherish the moments spent with my loved ones and remember those who can not be with theirs.