I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Christmas and celebrations. Not everyone has a family. Not everyone who has a family feels loved and safe with them. We are so lucky, those of us who are safe and whole and have people around us during the holidays who would miss us if we were gone. I think sometimes we get so caught up in gift giving and party planning and decorating that we forget that; we forget to make sure everything is right with the people we love. I’m sure everyone can relate to the scenario where all your extended family comes for the holidays, and then you all drive each other crazy within hours, even though you love them. Sometimes I think if we spent more energy on making those relationships good, instead of getting sweet potato casserole just right, everything might be so much better. Not that I’m complaining about sweet potato casserole, but man, we need to have our priorities.
I don’t really understand those women who would spend thousands and thousands of dollars on handbags, on just one handbag, even. And maybe there’s something awesome about it, maybe the problem really is that I just don’t understand. As far as I’m concerned, the point of a gift is to make someone feel loved, and a handbag just isn’t going to do that for me no matter how fancy it is. As far as I’m concerned, what matters is spending time with the people you love, and showing you appreciate them, really appreciate them–and that they know it. Often that means acts of service, but I think a lot of it is also just paying attention to what they really love, what they really care about in their life. And I guess, if a thousand dollar handbag will make someone feel loved–and if you have a thousand dollars to spend–maybe that’s alright.