Thinking Caps On!

Ever wonder why we give (and get) presents on Christmas? Like, really, why do we do this. It is a worldwide tradition and I don't know if people really stopped and gave it some thought.

Whose idea was it, in the first place, to give gifts on Christmas. If we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, why do we get presents? Huh?

I was thinking about this seriously today. The guilt of over buying was setting in as I was rushing past holiday shoppers and a few people left behind on the side of the street. Then I got to thinking.... why am I doing this? Why do I get caught up in the season every year. Why do I feel the need to buy my kids gifts for Christmas. It's not their birthdays, so why do they need more presents. What are we really celebrating?

It's now common knowledge Jesus was not born on Christmas Day... December 25th is not his actual birthday, but it is a day we acknowledge as the day of Jesus' birth, so we go along with the propaganda. OK, so as the story goes, the 3 Wise men brought Jesus one gift each, 3 in all. So is that where the whole 'give a gift' came from?

Many people adhere to this rule and only give their kids 3 gifts each... you know, to follow tradition. But as time went on, more and more families have expanded on their gift lists to include 6, 7, 8, 14 gifts for their child(ren).

I am guilty of this trend. And I'll have to answer to myself later, but why do we do this? If we are celebrating someone else's birthday, do we normally give ourselves gifts? No! When my kids get invited to a birthday party, I don't celebrate by buying them a present. We tend to buy the birthday child a present. So since we are essentially celebrating another child's birthday (baby Jesus) on Christmas, why not give a gift to him? OK, so we can't... then whose bright idea was it then to start buying gifts for everyone else?

I don't know... maybe it was this guy named Santa Claus (you've heard his story too right).

I have been trying to wrap my mind around this whole deal to try and make sense of it. And to try and understand how and why we all fall victim to this commercialism crap: For the perfect Christmas, you must buy your child the perfect toy. And the same is happening for Easter too. Another 'religious' holiday turned into a gift giving event.

Go egg hunting, take a picture with the Easter Bunny and get a basket filled with goodies, when we're supposed to be celebrating the death and Resurrection of our lord and savior Jesus Christ. What the heck a bunny has to do with it all makes no sense to me, yet we get sucked in anyway.

All I know is, I have got a lot of thinking to do and need to re-evaluate my hopes and expectations for next year.