My Christmas Promise

Last Christmas

I love the Christmas season. I love the focus on the Savior, the lights, the magic, the family time, the snow, nativities, treats, gift giving and receiving, music, and pretty much everything else. I think it’s a beautiful time of year, and it often lends itself to reflection for me as it is the end of the year as well as my wedding anniversary. For me, as soon as Halloween is over, it’s a magical, cold time to snuggle up with my family, express my love and gratitude more often and live more fully.

It’s frustrating that those feelings are also, all too often, plagued with concerns about money. Ty and I have tried to be reasonable in our expenditures for Christmas, and I think we’ve done well. Aside from a few more stocking stuffers, the material aspect of Christmas is taken care of at our house. The gifts are either already wrapped or en route to my house compliments of Amazon. I love that I can focus on the other Christmas things instead of worrying about finding the perfect gifts for the people I care about.

I love gift giving. I enjoy the opportunity to think about specific people and about what they love and what is meaningful to them in order to come up with something simultaneously surprising and joyful. It makes me happy to give a small token of my love and appreciation to people I think about often during the year anyway. This year, I completely understand how easy it is to go overboard in present buying. Will is almost two, and he is so full of energy and fun. He loves all toys and new experiences, and I love watching him learn and figure things out. It seems like with every toy I see, I am struck by how much Will would love it, and that’s a new sensation for me. Luckily, I have a very even minded partner who reminds me that Will also loves wrapping paper and cardboard, so we probably don’t need to by the newest and shiniest toys for him. I’m happy with what we’ve come up with for him, and I know he’ll be more than satisfied with the wrapping paper.

It’s made me think about Robert D Hales’s talk about buying his wife a fancy fur coat. She sweetly asked him if he was buying it for her or for him. I love that lesson, and Ty and I talk about it often as we try to be mindful of our finances and the kind of life we want to live. I think it’s easy to feel like we need to buy the fanciest gifts or throw the most elaborate parties in order to show the world that we’re good parents; when in reality, our kids would prefer memories and experiences to things. Will’s favorite thing lately is to hit a balloon back and forth between us. He also loves to help me make dinner (which tests my patience to its limit every single time). More than anything else, he wants me to play with him.

So this is my promise: this Christmas, I’m not going to worry about the number of presents under our tree or the contents inside the wrapping. I’m not going to stress about things. I’m going to hold onto my husband and son a little tighter. I’m going to talk about Jesus Christ and his miraculous birth and ministry a little more. I’m going to spend more time with Will in the kitchen. And I’m sure it’s going to be our best Christmas yet.