Ungrinching Bliss

Christmas starts way too early in America with stores putting out decorations and doodads earlier and earlier each year. This year the earliest siting in my area was August when I happened to be in Hobby Lobby and they were already setting out the aisle of Christmas decorations. When I was a child, there were very set “rules” for when holiday merchandise was to be unveiled. School supplies made their first appearance in late July, Halloween costumes showed up in the stores early in October, Turkeys and assorted Thanksgiving goodies made their appearance right after Halloween, and Christmas showed up the day after Thanksgiving.

I typically don’t buy into the corporate guilt to buy buy buy until sometime after Thanksgiving and then I start thinking that maybe I’d better start buying Christmas presents. The first presents are typically bought grudgingly as I see something in the store and buy it because if I don’t, I’ll never get my shopping done. My first shopping painful as I think about how many presents I have to buy, do some mental bitching because I’m always the one doing the shopping, and keep a mental tally to make sure that everyone gets treated equally.

This year the first gifts were the expensive ones as Sean and John got Cliqs for Christmas and because I can never keep a secret for long, they ended up getting them before the holidays. I bought Caitlin a few little things because after all I had to get her something if I was getting the boys something even though I knew exactly what her main present was going to be and had budgeted for it.

I managed to avoid the holiday insanity for the first few weeks of the season and then something clicked like it does every year and the joy of giving overwhelmed me. Buying presents started to feel like less of a chore and more of a joy. Instead of thinking about having to buy presents, I started thinking about the joy of giving and about how much I hoped my loved ones would like the things I was giving for them.

Oddly enough it is the little presents and stocking stuffers that I always buy with the most joy. The big presents are the hardest ones because there is so much money at stake and all too often too many expectaitons that they have to be perfect. With the secondary gifts, it’s easier to take risks and buy the gifts that you think are perfect, but that might not be.

It’s easy to buy someone a new phone or a new computer, but it’s harder to think about things that will bring people joy. I took some time today to explore the second hand stores and speciality stores for stocking stuffers that were meaningful. I found Caitlin an adorable gift at a second hand store (can’t say what it is becuase she reads my blog), got Sean some cool stuff at the dollar store, and spent hours searching through bookstores to find a Celtic Woman CD for John (it’s okay, I wussed and gave it to him early). None of these thinks cost a lot of money, but they’re all meaningful gifts from the heart.

The grinch has been replaced with the bliss of giving in my heart as I think about the joy that my gifts will bring my family and about the joy that their joy will bring me. What could be more perfect?