Tuesday's Unwrapped - Keeping It Real

It is easy to get lost in the commercialism that the Christmas season brings.  It is easy to get "wrapped up" in what is going on all around us.  It is easy to get our priorities mixed up, when all around us are confused.  Competition is rampant during this season.   Everywhere you go, it is about selfishness, over extending and over spending.  Seems to me that the message of the world is all based on buying as much as possible.  That gifts are the way we show people that we care.
I must admit, that I have way too often found myself wrapped up in that mind set.  I have spent way too much money, on way too many gifts.  I have had children who did not appreciate all the hard work and effort and expense that I went through to try and make it a "perfect day".
It has taken me many years, but I think that I am finally learning.  We spend much less money now than I did even three years ago.  We buy more games and less individual gifts.  We buy things that we can do and enjoy as a family, and less that separate us as individuals.  I have learned that one nice gift per child goes much farther toward making the day more enjoyable for all of us.
We play games together and spend time together.    We have our traditions that help to remind us of what this season is really all about.  We go caroling, we read the Christmas story, we talk about it being the Saviors birthday.  We read favorite stories about the season.  We participate in giving to others that are less fortunate than we are.  We try and make the season more about giving and less about receiving.  The girls do extra chores to earn money to buy gifts for each other.  The sacrifice of the season brings so much joy and love and reminds them that they are sisters and friends.
I have found that it is so easy to become overwhelmed during this season of celebration and joy.  If I focus on what makes the season special for us as a family, and keep that in my heart and mind and actions, than we all benefit.  I am not always successful, but this year, it is looking like I am finally going to become real at last.  Jesus is the reason for the season.  As I strive to serve Him, the season becomes more about what He would want me to do, and less about what I think I need to do.
And that makes for a perfect day after all.

Today, I am joining up with Chatting at the Sky for Tuesday's Unwrapped.  Today, we take this day and whatever it might hold for us and search for the gifts.  The blessings that abound within the trials.  We discover that He is there and real for us no matter what is going on in our lives.