Bah Humbug

If you've been near me around Halloween, you probably know it's not my favorite holiday.  Before you completely freak out on me, I participate.  I dress up! I was Rainbow Brite this year, and  I went to several Halloween parties.  I even took my kids trick or treating.  I also let my daughter have a Halloween Birthday party in May, at which we had trick or treating, costumes, and so on.  I guess my main problem with it is that I feel like it encourages greed, grabbiness and a lot of candy, all of which I feel like I already battle as a parent a little too often.

So then, why is Christmas my favorite holiday, beating out even my beloved Valentine's Day??

If you look at it objectively, Christmas sort of encourages greed.  I mean, every kid comes up with lists of things they want and then they expect those things to just be given to them.  It pushes grabbiness, too.  I mean, on the day after Thanksgiving, my kids took turns sitting on Santa's lap and he asked what they wanted.

My three year old said, "I don't know.  Anything."

Santa prompted, "Well, if you tell me what, I can have my elves make something special."

Emmy finally says, "Okay, a teddy bear."

"What color?" Santa asks.  (I'm thinking, COME ON, stop making me work here, dude!)

Emmy asks for a yellow teddy bear.  The other night though, my little non-grabby three year old informs me she can't wait for Christmas because she will get her yellow teddy bear with a bow, her red bear with a bow, and a box of candy.

?!?

*&%$

"Why do you think you're getting all that?" I ask.

"Because Dora (my five year old) said we get two things and candy."

Okay, so Christmas makes even the happiest kids a little greedy, a little grabby, and there's candy involved.  So why do I love it!?

Well, probably everyone reading this is thinking of the obvious: because the heart of Christmas is not about Santa, presents or even Christmas lights.  It's about celebrating the birth of our Savior, celebrating His life (a perfect one), His example, and His love for us.  It's about so much more than the "commercialization".  I have heard people complaining about how commercial Christmas has gotten for years and years and years.  I think the first memory I have of someone criticizing this aspect of Christmastime comes from Charlie Brown, where little Charlie himself sits whining and moaning that it's all about money and stores and presents.

Ya know what?  I love all that too!! Bring on the commercialized, Santa and Rudolph-centric parts!!! I adore those!  And I will tell you why.  I've been thinking about this all week.

I could start with all the explanations for the existence of Santa and justifications of gift giving.  The wise men brought Jesus gifts, so we give others gifts, too.  Or Jesus isn't here, so we celebrate His birthday in the way He would want, giving to others.  (Just as He gave us the greatest gifts--his perfect example in life, the atonement, and the opportunity to live again.)  I could mention that Santa's existence dates from the stories of Saint Nicholas.  All of those things are true, but they aren't the gist of why the commercialization doesn't bother me.  None of them explain why the greed in my kids isn't so annoying.  It doesn't explain why I try to force myself to do a shelf elf and make cookies and carol and hang lights.  I think to really explain, I need to go back a bit.

When I was a kid, I was all about the presents, like every other kid on the planet.  Christmas, for me, was all about the gimme gimme gimme.  Then I recall with perfect clarity that one year when I searched the whole house for my mom's stash.  My mom plans ahead, so I knew the gifts had to be hidden somewhere, some bought months in advance.  I found it.  In the back of her moth proofed closet, there it was.  All our presents.  Every last one.  I was really excited that afternoon, and I felt a little all-knowing.  Like somehow because I knew what everyone was getting, myself included, Christmas would be better than ever.

Boy was I wrong.  That Christmas goes down on the books as the worst Christmas of all time for me.  I still loved my Savior.  I still loved that He lives and He loves us and I knew all of that.  But that year, I was sad because all the magic of giving, of seeing people get things and not knowing what they were, was gone.  See, when you're a kid, you're excited because you don't know what's in all those paper wrapped boxes.  You're excited for what you will get, and seeing how excited your loved ones are at what they get.  When you're an adult, you're excited because although you know what's in those boxes, you put a lot of time and thought into what the people you love will want, so you are vested in it.  If you're just a kid who knows what's in them, you don't get credit, and you didn't spend time figuring out what to get, so there's no excitement.

That's when I realized that it's in the surprise of receiving, or seeing the joy in others all around me that I found my happiness at that time of year.  As I grew older, that feeling only intensified.  Don't get me wrong, I love getting presents.  But mostly, I just adore giving gifts to people.  I love sending them things.  My mom is the same way (which is why our house is full to the brim of toys and crap for my kids!)  And that's why, to me, even the commercialized part of Christmas is pretty darn good.  I am hoping my little bratlets grow up like I did and find that there's more joy in the giving than in the receiving, but even if they don't, the giving itself makes me happy, no, more like downright jolly, and that's enough.

I think that's the spirit that our Savior appreciates about the celebration of His birthday.  I envision Him sitting upstairs, eating cake with his Dad (and maybe my brother Jesse) and thinking about the happiness all around the Earth on that one day, and I think it makes Him happy, too.  I guess I am saying, don't get bent out of shape about stores having sales and people buying stuff other people don't need.  Just smile and relax.  Christ is still in Christmas as long as we are trying to bring joy to the ones we love.  So go buy another present, eat another cookie and say your prayers for a few extra minutes tonight.  We have so many things for which to be thankful.  If you're reading this, you're probably one of the people I am thankful for.  Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you all.