Valley View
The real joys of Christmas
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“It’s beginning to cost a lot like Christmas,” were the lyrics to a cheeky Instagram reel that was recently sent in a back and forth thread between a friend and I. Funny as it was, I’ve long felt that the most wonderful time of the year is cheapened by frantic consumerism. We’re bombarded with messages to rush to this sale and to buy this latest gizmo to the extent that Black Friday has now pushed in some places into Thanksgiving - a day that is all about gratitude and family. Nothing to be bought there. Except turkey and all the fixings of course – which with the price of food these days is nothing to sneeze at. But it’s a holiday that if you ask me, has its priorities right.
Don’t get me wrong. I love giving gifts. In fact, I love shopping. It feels so good to know you’ve found just the right gift and anticipating the joy it will give to your loved one. I just don’t subscribe to the idea that more is better – especially when fewer gifts can lead to less frenzy or even a family trip somewhere new. Other than my dear, now departed, cat Feliz, I can’t recall specific Christmas gifts I’ve been given over the years. At least not many. What I do remember is an impromptu family trip we took one Christmas Day up to the mountains to see the “snow.” Growing up in the Sacramento Valley, we never had white Christmases. My three brothers and I piled into the back of our family Suburban, delighted and somewhat scandalized to be eating peanut butter and chocolate chip sandwiches and drinking hot cocoa on the way. (Chocolate chips in sandwiches was a completely new and thrilling discovery for us.) When we got to the “snow,” (very wet and clumpy by my now Montana standards) we met up with other families that had the same idea. Several were sledding. We didn’t have sleds. So we slid down the hill on newspapers my parents had found in the car. Over. And over. And over again. It remains one of my fondest childhood memories.
Baking cookies together, dancing in the kitchen, playing games at the table and holding our own candlelight vigil are what I’m looking forward to most this holiday season with my kiddos. I’m blessed to have been able to purchase several gifts for each of them. But I’m more blessed to pass on to them that real joy doesn’t come in boxes. It comes in moments.
By the time you read this, Christmas will nearly be here. I hope that it finds you in a calm, peaceful place full of love and near the ones you hold dear. And yes, with gifts to give and gifts to open. But most importantly with warmth that lingers long after. In the memory of simple joys with those who matter most. And maybe a chocolate chip cookie (or sandwich) or two. Merry Christmas.
