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Christmas Around The Kitchen Table

Around my kitchen table last night after the supper was cleared ensued an interesting and quite ambiguous discussion regarding gift giving. My youngest was distraught as a friend had spent more than she on the gifts they had exchanged. We discussed the time and thought which was put into the gifts, and concluded that they were of equal ‘value’. That all being said, she still felt she needed to buy another gift to make up for the monetary discrepancy. This saddened me.

Try as I might to teach my girls that money does not equal value – nor does it necessarily provide for the valuable gifts – the media, society, and our culture dictates loud and clear that money matters. That the dollar value is of import. That bigger is better. That love and respect can be bought. Moreover, that you can make someone happy by spending a certain amount of money on them. The challenge is to keep your values in place.

This time of year certainly tests our values. We find ourselves caught up in pleasing others, pleasing everyone. We get caught up in impressing people; most times the wrong people. We get caught up in the hype. We do this to the point of going into extreme debt both financially and emotionally. Sigh.

Time to watch ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ again. And we did. While watching and attempting not to drift off to sleep as is my habit, I reflected back to my childhood Christmas’. I honestly remember that everyone always got more presents that I – I was a tragic figure. However, I clearly remember just wanting family around the kitchen table having a great dinner and spending time together – that was all I wanted for Christmas.

Give me a quiet Christmas (as quiet as can be expected with a house full of girls), some great food and wine, those silly paper hats and surround me with those I truly love…

This will be a Merry Christmas for me; my best wishes to all of you.

Peace in your heart and peace in mine.

Comments

  1. Janet JarrellJanuary 09, 2009

    Thank you to everyone who e-mailed me or talked to me about this entry - it was not intended to be as heavy as it was received. My moods!

    Peace in the New Year

    ReplyDelete

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