I am so not into Christmas this year!  I can’t seem to get excited about it.  It has lost its meaning – a time to celebrate the birth of Christ.  It is now a time to worship the coming of Santa, and retail.

I am not religious, but respect the celebration by the Christian faith.  I was raised with the story of Christ, but many, who celebrate Christmas by putting up a tree and spending money they don’t have for gifts they don’t need, know nothing of the story.  Some are not even of the Christian faith!

We are three weeks from Christmas and the stores are packed with shoppers and the mall lots are jammed with cars.  This is certainly good for retail as this is a time that either makes them or breaks them.

But back to me.  I have reached the stage in my life when I don’t need anything and, if I do, I go and get it.  I don’t need more things!  I realize that makes it difficult for those giving me gifts as I don’t have a list for them.  It also colours my gift-giving this year as I am having difficult seeing what others really need that I am supposed to buy for.

My focus has been shifting in the last few years to those who are truly in need, not of the trivial gifts, but of the necessities of life.  I would sooner see food on the table of a family in need than receive a gift I don’t need.

Maybe volunteering to make up hampers on Boxing Day will restore my Christmas Spirit.

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