Yep, you read that title right. No presents for Christmas. And before you jump to conclusions, this post isn’t going to be about why Christmas should be all about the spirit of giving and that presents don’t matter. For some people (me not included) presents do matter. I’ll at least say that I’m not peeved that there’ll be nothing for me under the tree.

Really, in all honesty, there was never anything under the tree to begin with. My family doesn’t do the whole “wrapping thing”. We all go to the store and just buy things for ourselves and go home. That’s it. Yeah, it took away from the spirit of Christmas (or should I say, it added to the “hyper commercialism”), but yeah, we didn’t care. For my younger sisters and I, Christmas was just an excuse to get stuff. And in more ways than one, it still is. My sister’s are getting their favorite video games to play over winter break. All over the net, there are tons and tons of ads that scream low prices. On TV, there are commercials with the kids getting their mother or father a gift, usually ending with a store’s or phone company’s brand – effectively ruining the moment.

The real meaning of Christmas

The purpose of Christmas got lost somewhere between the commercialism and the value of giving. I guess that Christmas is just what you make of it. For some, it’s a time to give. For others, it’s a time to get as many gifts as possible. But for me, it’s a time to reflect on what’s really important. I’ve gotten almost everything I wanted this year (material-wise), but not getting anything or giving anything besides blog posts doesn’t make me feel anything. Am I not apart of Christmas if I don’t get or give? I don’t know.

I’d rather spend this holiday thinking about how I can better serve the world so it in turn can better serve me. You can call me stingy for not giving anything, or a kind soul for being content with not getting anything, but I think it’s better for the world if I just focus on improving myself. Naturally this will improve the lives of others. The happier I get, it’s natural that I’ll try to push some of my happiness onto them. It’s only fair, right?

So I guess why I’m not getting anything is…

Mostly because there are more important things I want to spend my money on. Like experiences. You’ll find out soon enough .

Final thoughts, comments, etc.

What do the holidays mean to you? Is it the giving? Is it the getting? Is it about the reflections upon years past? Are you going to a soup kitchen to help others (not being a hypocrite here, I’m not going anywhere)? Will you be busy writing resolutions? (Actually, more on that next week).

Tell me what you think.

photo credit: TimothyJ

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