Christmas shopping stresses me out! I love to shop, really I do! However, from the time Black Friday kicks off to the day after Christmas I have this shopping anxiety!
I feel this urgency to hurry up and go buy everything before it’s all gone!
Maybe that comes from living years overseas where if you didn’t get it early you just didn’t get it.
Gifts For Under Our Own Tree
Now my children are older, and their gifts are more expensive. I want to have several things under the tree for them to open, but at the prices of some of these gifts trying to make that happen stresses me out!
I think of my single-parent friends who are trying to make everything wonderful for their children on one income! They’re fighting their own loneliness, and their own worries financially.
Pressure to have the latest and greatest under the tree is a Christmas stressor!
Gifts For Someone Else’s Tree
Then there is this pressure, in order to be in the Christmas Spirit get everyone and their brother a present! Give to your neighbors, your children’s teachers, the great aunts, second cousins, third uncles, nieces, and, and, and, Really?!
We never see them or speak to them, but for some reason at Christmas there is this pressure to get them something they’d like. Only to find yourself standing at the store clueless!
Pressure to put presents under someone else’s tree is a Christmas stressor!
Gifts For The Unexpected
My all time favorite gift stressor would have to be gift reciprocation! When that person you weren’t expecting brings you a gift, and you suddenly feel obligation rising up inside of you to reciprocate the gift!
It’s the freak out moment! I have nothing for them! Do I scrounge the couch cushions for change and go to the Dollar Tree?
Pressure to reciprocate gifts from the unexpected is a Christmas stressor!
Confession #2::I’m not buying gifts for everyone this year!
In the spirit of a Christmas KISS I’ve had to evaluate my thinking about gift giving. Just as I had to evaluate how I hosted my Christmas Party this year. I asked myself what’s my motive in giving a gift? What’s the purpose of the gift?
The wise men brought a gift to honor the King.
If I buy the way Christmas is marketed, I can guarantee my gifts do not bring honor to anyone.
This year, I want my gifts to matter. I want to bring honor to those I gift something to.
Which means that many this Christmas holiday, whom I normally feel obligated to buy for, will get a very warm and loving Merry Christmas. If I receive an unexpected gift, I shall reciprocate with a sincerely genuine thank you.
For my children, I’ve decided to prayerfully shop for them, and to give myself grace knowing that they have been raised with the understanding that Christmas morning has never been about what’s under the tree – but it’s what we pray and read about before the gifts even are opened. I know they’re Christmas will be full of love no matter what’s under the tree!
To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year. ~Elwyn Brooks White
Now Your Thoughts… What part of gift exchange, gift giving, gift purchasing, stresses you out! Have you shaved your Christmas gift list down this year? If so why? Was it because of finances, time, or something else? Let’s Chat.
This is so awesome!! I have felt this way exactly this Christmas season. We are only buying for the kids this year and not even for each other (exchanging with my husband). Sometimes gift exchange is so overrated and truly is a stresser. It was easy to just buy for the kids and that was it…no fighting the crowds, no pulling my hair out what to get, it came very easy and I’m grateful for that. It makes way for the more important things like preparing my heart for the coming of Jesus…the Ultimate Gift! Thanks for letting others know its OK to not buy a bunch of gifts and for identifying those feelings of not having a gift to reciprocate…though awkward it is a growing moment to embrace a blessing God is giving us through the person giving it and to be humble enough to except it without anything but a warm hug and thank you in return. Love this post!
Jennifer,
Hi Jenn! I feel so much better to know I am NOT the only one thinking this way! Thanks for commenting!
Hi Beth – thank you for the post. I saw it earlier and was hoping I’d remember to read it while at a home computer. We had to scale back due to finances – it seems tougher each year. Just a couple years back I was stressing to find something just right – for the right price so people don’t feel obligated – but then to what honor? Who needs this item that is full of meaning because I took the time, but really not needed and not necessary. I try to focus on this. Most of my friends have everything they need – and what they want – I can’t afford to buy for them. So more than likely nothing – we have focused on just our son and I’ve repeatedly said – I really don’t need anything.
Another theme you touched on that has been on my heart … the wise men brought these extravagant gifts to honor the King – but what do we buy for babies and children? Completely different focus.
What do I want for Christmas – a deeper understanding and appreciation for the season. I’m simply going to enjoy it – and I might splurge and sit in Starbucks and relax rather than shop while I contemplate the true meaning of Christmas.
Sandra,
Hi Sandra!
What an awesome reply! Thank you! Maybe I’ll see you in Starbucks and contemplate with you! Merry Christmas!