What’s the reason…

Today was the start of the holiday season in our house.  In true Edwards’ fashion, my husband read through the holiday sales catalogues and the giant toy books, circled what he thought our children would like, scanned the items circled by our number two son and our little girl and proceeded to get his shop on.

For the last few Christmases, I must admit that I’ve gone way above the budget and that I need to be reigned in at times, but the fanfare and spirit of holiday shopping is always taken away from me in my husband’s quest to minimize my holiday over-spending.

As usual, I called my sister and one of my best girlfriends to complain and both of them said the same thing…”at least you don’t have to fight the hustle and bustle of crowded malls…and it’s done.” Not exactly the answer that I wanted to hear, but they were right.

So as I drove to work sulking because no one seemed to be on my side of the Christmas shopping argument, I began to think…think about the real reason for the season and the advertising blitz that seems to make thankfulness, praising of God and the merriment of family take a back seat to fighting for the latest gadgets to be placed under our trees.

As a mom, one of the best holiday moments has been seeing the looks on my children’s faces as they open their presents on Christmas morning.  As the children get older and the amazement of how Santa delivers presents through a chimney that we don’t have seem to fade away, I’ve noticed that my children are excited about the holiday because of what they ‘expect’ to get from us and are far    removed from the foundations of such a spiritually  entrenched time of year.

My husband and I have talked about reducing the number of gifts we give, making our children donate some of their toys and even volunteering as a family but is this really what I want to do?  Something superficial once or twice a year?

When it’s all said and done, I want my children to see the blessings that God has bestowed upon our family year round.  I want them to have a spirit of giving, love for family and concern for others 356 days a year.  As a mom, my prayer is that for the next few weeks, I am able to focus on love and not on who’s done the most gift purchasing or gift wrapping; and on Christmas morning, I hope not to be pleased by the smiles on our children’s faces because of what they’ve received from us, but to be at peace with what God has given; once again.