I Heart Christmas

There's lots of things to love about Christmas. There's lots of things to hate too. When there's more things to hate than to love, I become Grinch-y (not to be confused with bitchy). The Grinch has become a well-known favorite as an antagonist who has hated Christmas for years. It just couldn't be understood by many why someone could hate Christmas as much as the Grinch did. But when you really think about it, the Grinch had the right idea.

The Grinch:

That's what it's all about, isn't it? That's what it's always been *about*. Gifts, gifts... gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts. You wanna know what happens to your gifts? They all come to me. In your garbage. You see what I'm saying? In your *garbage*. I could hang myself with all the bad Christmas neckties I found at the dump. And the avarice... [shouts] The avarice never ends! "I want golf clubs. I want diamonds. I want a pony so I can ride it twice, get bored and sell it to make glue." Look, I don't wanna make waves, but this *whole* Christmas season is [shouts] stupid, stupid, stupid!

As you grow up, you begin to lose the Christmas magic that you once knew as a child. Like me, you probably woke up one year and realized that the Christmas you knew no longer existed. Way back then, Christmas meant waiting for a jolly man dressed in red to come deliver presents. Christmas meant waking up bright and early to drag your parents out of bed so you could inspect what Santa had brought. Christmas meant happily seeing long-distance relatives and spending the holiday with them. Over the years, Christmas in its glory was replaced with long lines at the stores, rude people shoving their way to their destinations, and instead of gleefully giving gifts, people start to grumble about how much money they're spending to make others happy. Somehow, somewhere - people cared more about receiving gifts (and giving good, high-end gifts) and forgot about spending quality time with each other. When Christmas becomes something more of a chore, how could anyone like Christmas? Even Cindy Lou Who was starting to agree with the Grinch.

When Christmas becomes a chore (and it sometimes does - simply for the fact that people care about how expensive the gifts are), it loses its power to be a holiday when friends and families can get together and just simply appreciate each other.


I had started the holidays with a small grumble. Thanksgiving was never my favorite holiday. It wouldn't make the top 5. I never cared for the Thanksgiving meal either. As the end of November arrived and December was just around the corner, I thought to myself, "Here we go again." I went shopping on Black Friday to get some good deals. To my amazement, there weren't any long lines and everything was still in stock by the time I arrived at the stores. I guess you can blame the economy. I got all my shopping done in a day. I had all the gifts wrapped a week later. So far, so good. However, I wasn't feeling the Christmas spirit. I was counting the money I had spent - down to the last penny. I was more concerned about how much I could buy with so little money rather than thinking about what would mean the most to the people that was receiving the gifts. I was concerned about getting my shopping done and out of the way.

I had just finished the Christmas play at the church over the weekend. An annual item on my Holiday To-Do list. This year was quaint. Small and simple. And actually quite enjoyable for the most part. Another thing to cross off my list....


I received my very first Christmas present a few days ago. I had known it was coming so I was allowed to open it when it arrived. I waited anxiously for a week and when it finally arrived, I was giddy. Finally, I felt like a child opening presents on Christmas day.


So now, I am looking forward to opening presents with my children. I am looking forward to seeing other people open gifts I got for them. I am remembering what it's like to be around people that I care about and share the happiness in exchanging gifts. While our gifts wont be extravagant this year, it'll be packed with thoughtfulness and that's the best kind of gift.

So when you're feeling down and need some holiday cheer, become reacquainted with Cindy Lou Who and the Grinch.... and it wouldn't hurt to take a lesson or two from them.