Thanksgiving was almost a month ago but as we continue through the holiday season, it’s another good time to be thankful once again. During the holidays can be too caught up in the buying, the gifts and the things. For example, a recent photo caption I read mentioned how Black Friday brings out people to buy more things after being thankful for what they already had in their life. The winter holidays can be the same way with gifts.
These things, like Starbucks cup controversies, can be distractions to what’s really important about the winter break. No matter what our religious preference, we all get the same amount of time away as an opportunity to spend time with family and friends.
Before walking into the grocery store the other day, I looked at the prices on some of the smaller Christmas trees being sold out front. Some of them cost more than I expected, between 30 and 60 dollars. As a college student, I’ve been budgeting for my main, important costs and trees are important, but this was out of my range. Regardless, the smell of the trees reminded me of the great times our family had growing up during this time of year.
As a family, we’d pick our tree together and it was the only time of year we could run around in the tree lot. It also reminded me that the people, specifically our parents, that made the experiences got us into the spirit possible. The decorations were great, they were the icing on the cake, but it’s nicer to have the familiar faces around to spend time with.
Some of us have certain holiday traditions that make this time of year memorable, like picking a tree or seeing friends from high school that you haven’t seen since the summer. After finals week, some students will head home for the winter break. For those of us heading back to our hometown, we can enjoy the break but if we have the home and decorations to go home to, we are very fortunate.
For those of us with any down time during the break, volunteering at a local food bank or soup kitchen could become a new tradition. If we have more than enough clothes in our closet, a trip to the Salvation Army could become a tradition.
Let’s make it a memorable break and enjoy the great holiday no matter how many things we have.
The popular Christmas cartoon movie, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” probably explains it best. After Charlie Brown got picked on for having a small tree with one ornament, Linus tells him, “I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It’s not bad at all really. Maybe it just needs a little love.”