Wow, as I said a while back this year is simply blowing past. I actually know people that have all their Christmas shopping done and their house decorated for our next wonderful holiday. I simply procrastinate too much. I guess I work better under pressure and will start next week. I simply hate the idea of dragging out all those decorations so maybe I will just keep it simple since it’s only Bill, myself and our 2 lovable mutts. It will also be a lot less to put away after the New Year.

We all know the true meaning of Christmas and we give credit to the 3 wise men for our gift giving during this time of year. It has now become so commercialized that people go into debt to buy those presents that are so expected now a days. It would be better if we could simply give of ourself and time and especially to those that are less fortunate. For some reason we think we have to buy something for everyone and get so depressed when we can’t afford all those expensive things.

Giving gifts during Christmas started in the early 19th century when the celebration of Christmas was restored after a period when the Protestants in England banned Christmas celebrations. In 1820 to 1840 when Christmas celebrations regained popularity, stores started to advertise special Christmas shopping promotions. At the same time, newspapers also created advertising sections solely for holiday shopping advertisements. These special advertising sections had prominent displays of Santa Claus.

In 1841 when a store in Philadelphia had a life-size model of Santa Claus, hundreds of children turned up to get a look at Santa Claus, which had become a new and popular element of revitalized Christmas celebrations. The interest in seeing Santa Claus provided a marketing idea to retailers that they could attract children and parents to stores through offers to have a look at a ‘real’ or ‘live’ Santa Claus.

Because of that marketing strategy to attract children during Christmas, the focus was therefore to give Christmas presents to children. Today, gift-giving is still focused on children, but adults are by no means left out. I had a friend that was of a particular faith that did not believe in lying to her children and believed that if we were kind loving and giving all year round there would be less violence and hate in the world and I tend to agree with her.

Like I said Christmas is a tradition that we celebrate once a year and because of the high expectations that have developed over the years we have gotten away from what the spirit of Christmas is really all about. If we could learn to be more giving and caring through out the year then coping better during this holiday season wouldn’t be so hard on so many and maybe there would also be less crime. It would be so nice just to get back to the simple basics.

When I was young we were lucky to get a bag of oranges and maybe one toy, boy how things do change. I know we want to give our children things that we didn’t have, but sometimes I think we put too much emphasis on material things and how do you teach a child appreciation when they think Santa Claus will bring them everything they want. My son never appreciated the fact that I worked hard to support the 3 of us and had to make sure he always had some kind of special Christmas, Santa always got the credit.