I’ve never been much for shopping during any season of the year but Christmas has always been a little bit easier. Searching out the perfect gift for loved ones and close friends has always been a joy. This year however I haven’t really been able to capture that joy and Christmas shopping has felt no more special than the everyday sort of shopping.
It’s not that I’m not into the Christmas spirit quite the contrary in fact I still love it, enjoy it and relish in every moment. I love the decorations and lights, the smell of pine wafting through the house blended with cinnamon and ginger, the parties to go to and even the Holiday concerts in the hot stuffy gymnasiums of the girls’ schools.
It’s simply that I’d rather spend my time with those I love than shopping for those I love. I’d rather spend my “spare time” with family and friends regardless of what we are doing rather than battling mall crowds to get another thing that no one really needs.
This I think is where the crux of the problem with Christmas shopping lies. I don’t want to buy things for others that they don’t really want or need. Things that will be appreciated to my face but looked at afterwards with a “what am I supposed to do with THAT” sort of look. I admit it I’ve done it myself.
So go with gift cards some might say but for some reason gift cards have always seemed to be somewhat crass of a solution to me. As if you are saying in gift form that you didn’t care to spend any actual time on that person and are doing nothing more than fulfilling an obligation, or worse yet putting a monetary value on that person.
I suppose this is a big part of why Christmas shopping is no longer so fun for me. Years ago it was often a struggle for us to afford everything we needed let alone satisfy our wants. Christmas was one of the only times of the year I allowed myself to be a bit frivolous and searching out items from my carefully budgeted list and buying them always felt a little extraordinary.
Now however we don’t struggle to satisfy our needs, as well as most of our wants, so shopping regardless of the reason is no longer some extraordinary and unique thing reserved for a few specific times of the year. Finding the time to do things however is now often the biggest challenge in my life and so that seems to have developed into a much higher value over monetary or materialistic things.
It seems we always want most what we don’t have. There are other reasons certainly, I hate crowds, shopping for the kids makes me realize they already have way more stuff than they need, I don’t really have space to put anything new and I’m just not (or ever will be) a shopper.
Last year I focused instead on creating Christmas gifts that were useful gifts. Things I made for people that could be used and enjoyed rather than simply had. I spent time creating baskets stuffed full of yummy goodies, bought books and made treats for the kids in our lives instead of toys, tried to make the whole season a better experience for others and spent as much time in the company of friends and family as I could.
It was one of the most joyful Christmas seasons I can recall and the one in which I probably spent the least amount of time shopping. Perhaps this is why I’m struggling with Christmas shopping this year. I just want to remember the lesson I learnt last year. That Christmas will always be special regardless of how much I spend on things if what I truly give is my time and effort to the loved ones in my life.
