The Case for Shopping

Posted by Justine | December 27, 2008 | 7 Comments

There’s a particular kind of happy anticipation that comes when you know your loved one is going to open up a gift on Christmas morning that will put them over the moon. It obviously doesn’t need to be an expensive or elaborate gift, but this year we somehow managed to actually divine what each child was secretly opining for. More miraculously, they weren’t pricey over-the-top gifts.

I have spent the last three weeks in eager anticipation, somewhere between “I can’t wait another second until Christmas”, and “I hope this feeling never ends”. I was not let down. Christmas morning came, and watching the children open their gifts made me fairly burst with happiness.

And as if that weren’t enough, an even more satisfying event was watching my children spend the last three weeks in the same anticipation as me. They had each carefully saved their money all autumn, selected gifts for their siblings, wrapped with care, and waited with anxiety until Christmas morning. They squirmed with delight as they watched someone unwrap something they had so tenderly chosen, paid for and wrapped. The giver was often even more excited than the recipient. And when the children were unwrapping their own presents, some asked to let others go first, only wanting to enjoy watching, not wanting to receive something themselves.Watching it really can’t be captured in words, but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.

Sometimes I think the commercialism of Christmas will swallow me whole, it scrapes against what I hold dear and what I really wish to celebrate at Christmas. But there is also something beautiful about giving. There is something so dear and tender about wishing to give to another person — I would not dare stamp that desire out of myself or my children. And the thing about giving is that, well, someone has to receive. And on the whole, it can certainly turn ugly and commercial and completely secular. But it can also be beautiful and simple and even spiritual. We can sacrifice and give gifts to our loved ones, to our neighbors, to our community, to the Lord.

On Christmas Eve, as we sat to write letters to the Savior, telling him what our gift to Him would be this coming year, our children saw the circle of giving enclose them. We give because we love. The Savior gives to us because He loves us. We share the experience together, giving and receiving, sacrificing to give, humbling ourselves to receive.

So, I’ll continue to shop each year, and let my children do the same. I just can’t bring myself to not.

Category: Daily Special

Comments

7 Responses to “The Case for Shopping”

Maralise
December 27th, 2008 @ 6:36 am

I needed this reminder Justine. I have always loved Christmas and being the youngest in my family genetically ingrained my role as ‘bringer of Christmas magic to all.’ But the last few years, as I’ve been making an effort to simplify, I’ve also lost the joy of giving. I have not taken the effort to give with a joyful heart and simplify at the same time. It can be done. But, I haven’t figured out how yet.
Michelle L.
December 27th, 2008 @ 12:49 pm

I watched “What Would Jesus Buy?” while walking on the treadmill this morning. And yes, while overconsumption and frantic preparations suck the marrow out of Christmas, I still agree with you Justine, that the perfect gift is just that– perfect.

God gives me incredible gifts from my “want list”– not just my needs and I love doing the same for others
m&m
December 27th, 2008 @ 4:04 pm

God gives me incredible gifts from my “want list”– not just my needs and I love doing the same for others

I love this.

My friend cheryl posted a really lovely little piece on how the ‘hullabaloo’ of Christmas really can tie back to the true meaning of Christmas. I loved it. Like Justine, sometimes the commercialization of the holiday drives me bonkers. But every year, I go bonkers wrapping every last thing that could even remotely be called a gift (this year, it stretched to individual packages of saltines and other crackers for each child to have as snacks during the break, for example) — I simply love watching my children open gifts, love trying to recreate the magic of the holiday that I grew up with.
Shelah
December 27th, 2008 @ 8:00 pm

Michelle– did you like WWJB? We considered renting it tonight.

Thanks for the post, Justine. I feel like so much of what we hear about Christmas these days is a condemnation of the commercialism, and it feels like you’ve found a good balance of enjoying the gifts and remembering what’s important.
Michelle L.
December 27th, 2008 @ 8:42 pm

Um, I honestly didn’t like it much. Preacher Billy yells too much– I’m so accustomed to our calm collected preaching style.

And I never enjoy wholesale condemnation of people: “everyone overspends at Christmas” “all teenagers are obnoxious” “every man looks at pornography” etc. It’s not very charitable.

Maralise received an oh-so-perfect Christmas gift if you want to click on her name in the first comment (hope you don’t mind Mara, but what are blogs if not to be read?).
Zina
December 29th, 2008 @ 4:04 pm

I really loved this, Justine. I get tired of the constant condemnations of Christmas commercialization (wow, that was a lot of unintentional alliteration) although like most of us I do also struggle to find a balance between sacrificing to make Christmas happen, and simplifying where it’s good to do so. I definitely related to your description of Christmas morning joy, and yes, that joy involved the giving of tangible, purchased objects — but aren’t all things spiritual to God? And the love those objects represented was real, too.

Thanks also, M&M for the link to Cheryl’s piece, which I also really liked. It made me think that, while we tend to sometimes moralize that Christmas should be *all* spiritual, calm, and contemplative, Jesus himself was born amidst circumstances of “hullabaloo,” in the sense of negotiating the obstacles of the material world — travel, and finding a place for him to be born. That’s a partly flawed comparison in that a lot of our hullabaloo involves luxury rather than necessity, but it somewhat works if you think in terms of the travel, work, and mundane details involved to make a nice holiday for loved ones.
wendy
December 29th, 2008 @ 9:25 pm

Justine, I love this. As simple as we went this year, it was truly joyful to plan and scheme about what to give. I suspect when ds is older, I’ll feel the commercialism tug a little more and stress about it a little more. It seemed like this year I was able to capture that balance you so beautifully described here, and I hope to continue to be able to do so.