Simple Gifts

As the season of holiday giving approaches do you find yourself in a state of anxiety over the expectations of family, friends, or your own desires? If you are feeling an increasing shadow looming over the coming weeks, perhaps it is time to examine the reasons for the season again and figure out what is stealing your joy.

Over the years, it seems, this season has gotten more commercial, has begun earlier and earlier, and has taken on an ever growing complexity. You may feel that life is complex enough all year and that what you want out of the holidays is a break from the chaos and confusion, a time to focus on simple joys.

So how can we simplify the part of this season that causes anxiety, and enhance the part that brings us joy?

First, ask yourself what is really important to you, in regards to the holidays. Perhaps you can look back to your childhood and examine the memories that you cherish. What are those memories? Big family gatherings? Making cookies with Grandma? Walks in the chilly air with your siblings or cousins? Most likely you will find that people, and time spent with them, will be the centerpiece of your best memories. This can help you look for ways to give of yourself and of your time, giving to your loved ones times that will live on in their own best memories.

How do you see simplifying in respect to gift giving? Have you become enslaved to the mad rush to get “something” for everyone, to fill stockings, to have a mountain of wrapped gifts to show for your effort? Do you feel obligated to provide things for the people you love, even when you aren’t sure what they would like? Is there a pressure within your family to match gift giving regardless of individual needs, wants or financial situation?

These can be difficult questions to reflect on deeply, but in seeking the answers you may find that the joy that you have lost in trying to keep up with expectations may be found in learning to express the love that you feel for those you give to by finding a simple and sincere gift that comes from your heart.

Such a gift might be something that you know your loved one desires. Tickets to a play or concert, a home-made craft that your have put your heart into, a day out to visit a museum or antique shopping, lessons in dance or an instrument. The important thing is that you have thought deeply about what would please the person that you are giving to.

Giving of ourselves is what gift-giving should be about. A pile of items that will soon become clutter cannot compare to one gift, given from the heart, that will become a part of the fabric of life.