Tis the season

I love this time of year! Tis the season for pumpkin flavored anything, sweaters, fireplaces, extra snuggling and more. However, I feel like we sometimes zip by Thanksgiving. In stores, there seems to be a little bitty section full of a few turkeys, fall leaves, and a mr. and mrs. pilgrim. It gets crowded out by Frosty and Rudolph.

Today, I had a thought. If we are going to buy gifts, why don't we buy people Thanksgiving gifts? Isn't that really who we give Christmas gifts to anyway...the people we love and are grateful for having in our lives? Maybe then we could just focus on celebrating Jesus' birthday at Christmas and He wouldn't get crowded out by Frosty and Rudolph either.

I am a sucker for snowmen and gingerbread men. I think eighty percent of what is in my attic is Christmas decorations. Ridley swears the plastic tubs marked "Christmas" are multiplying every twelve months. It is in my blood! Growing up, my mom always decorated and made our home feel like an extension of the North Pole. To this day, if she is hosting a dinner, her table is decorated like a masterpiece. I love it!

This year is a little different for me. As God pulls me closer to simplifying, I face a bit of a struggle. I admit it! I walk into the stores and my heart starts racing with excitement. I have read the "Five Love Languages" and I am a "gifts" when it comes to loving on others. I absolutely believe in finding bargains, so those gifts don't have to be expensive, but a lot of love and thought goes into each one. This year I find myself not as excited.....about shopping. I don't light up over a bargain. With every sale item I find, I picture what that thirty dollar could be providing for someone MUCH more in need. Our Compassion International children need about $38.00 a month to live on. I paid that for one sweater.

I don't expect my kids to throw out their letters to Santa, nor do I expect all of my extended family to be in the same place I am when it comes to a burden on my heart. However, my gift giving this year looks different. I have found some websites where gifts purchased will give back to orphans or women in other countries trying to help provide for their families. Some gifts are more practical and some are gifts that may spark a memory or make a new one. As for Ridley and me, we are stealing our friend's idea. We are not giving to each other but we are taking the money we would spend and donating it to a person or organization. On Christmas morning we will each open our gift to see how the other spent the money. I have already put way more thought into Ridley's gift than in the years past.

Honestly, I love new stuff. I love the fun of unwrapping. I love to watch others as they unwrap my gift to them. So my struggle is battling that want. I have even gone so far as to stand in the middle of the Christmas section and convince myself that any snowman, ornament, or decoration with JESUS on it, can be called a witnessing tool. Like the exterminator is going to come into my house to spray for bugs and my light up Jesus ornament can do more good than my boldness and words. Silly, I know.

Bottom line.....I read today that Americans are expected to spend 447 billion dollars on gifts this year. That would sponsor 109 million orphans for 10 years. I also know that there is a little girl in my own town that had a fruit cup for lunch today because her lunch tab is higher than her parents can afford. That broke my heart!!!!!

I am still excited about the holidays but my focus is more on celebrating Thanksgiving and Jesus. We have so much to be thankful for. Can a sweater really make that any more exciting? The gift of Jesus is THE BEST gift I have ever received. It is definitely a gift that I want to re-gift to others.