Yesterday was the first day of the official shopping season for Christmas: Black Friday for those of you who aren't versed in American lingo. We avoid the sale shopping frenetics and spend the day perusing ornaments. Over hill and dale, we shop for the perfect bobble, until we are blurred from from fatigue, we return home with trinkets for our tree.
The Grinch would grimace at all of the sparkles and glitter there is to behold (as would Conchscooter),
but the initiation of Christmas cheer and good will is one we never pass up.
It is tempting to view the season as a glutton of solipsism or one that threatens to put us in a financial crunch because our obligation to give is focused on the shiniest, newest as opposed to meaningful. But if that's all it has become, then it is one that should be cast off immediately.
Gift giving should be the search to find the best gift for the person to whom one is giving and one that will make their heart light -not the gift that will impress them the most. And no mistake it is no small task to give a gift that is meaningful without bankrupting oneself.
Yet the toil is light when viewed from one's memory and one recalls the eyes lit up, the lips in a broad smile as the gift is lifted from the box and into the arms of the one it was purchased it for.
Truly, the right spirit of Christmas, as the Grinch came to learn, is about giving and sharing and thought for all we come into contact with.
So each year, we celebrate the first day by finding the perfect ornament to commemorate the day. The one that will remind us of the good will we experience during the season and the one which we hope will continue on throughout the New Year.
What traditions do you have that keep the true spirit of Christmas?
