The Season of Giving

I want to wish all those who read and comment on my blog a very Merry Christmas. I know there is well over a week until the BIG event, but I thought I would get an early start in case I do not get the opportunity to later in the week. They have started calling Christmas, The Season of Giving. What happens when you are all given out?
Through the year we are expected to gift everything from weddings, births, birthdays, anniversaries,assorted holidays ex: Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day. Even the greeting card industry is makning them up now. Come on, when I was growing up I never heard of Sweetest Day. If you walk into a Hall mark in September or October you can bet you will hear of it now. Now at the end of the year the is major giving shabang, Christmas.
I myself have had a difficult year finacially. It doesn't seem to be looking any better in the very near future, although I do have a plan and it will work itself out soon enough. When I was first thinking of the Christams season I was not looking forward to it. I could not finacnically afford to give the way I always do. Then my friends and I made that pact to make gifts instead of buy them and I started to wonder if the season of giving isn't really about giving literally. I have made my friends gifts, or at least the biggest part of them. They do not look store bought and they do not look fantastic but I know I made them. I put thought and caring into each one. I am giving them part of myself. Maybe the season of giving isn't about what can be bought but what you can share of yourself with those that you love. I do hope they appreciate the effort as I will appreciate theirs.
As a teenager I looked back at the things I had made my mother for Christmas and was embarassed that she would sit some of them out on display. They were so very ugly. How could she want that sitting out? As an adult I now know. It was made by me. I put everything I had into that present for her at the time. It was given with love. It may very well be ugly ,but because she loves me and I made it for her, it earned a special place in our home. So for all those reading I hope you take a moment to stop shopping and wrapping and cherish The Season of Giving by giving something of yourself to someone you love. God Bless.