“It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.” – Mother Teresa
Beyond the scope of giving simply because it’s the holiday season, there are those who give daily and find it struggling to keep on giving with that same fervor and enthusiasm for kindness that they began with.
It can be very easy to fall off track, losing yourself in holiday madness. I got family that work in retail, believe, I understand how this time of year gets.
Ungrateful responses, returning gifts, impatience and lack of communication, holiday traffic, and weather that beats down on people’s moods.
Especially if this holiday season happens to be a season that hasn’t historically been in your favor and nothing but bad memories are surrounding it, I can understand how that can feel.
But that’s exactly why I felt it necessary to write this message, to remind everyone that so long as your feelings are genuine and your gifts have meaning, even if there isn’t quantity, even if it isn’t expensive, even if its not what’s requested, what makes the idea of giving such a platitude is the love we put into it.
I find that to be the most important thing to keep in mind during the holidays. There shouldn’t need to be this must stress going into a season that’s supposed to be inspired by love and memories.
There’s no reason to drive ourselves into debt.
No reason to force kindness.
No reason to burden yourself for the sake of making the holidays perfect.
Let it be. What Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Years all provide are opportunities. Opportunities to bring people together, to make memories, and to give gifts thoughtfully. Our day and age has an atmosphere of forced kindness, tradition, and this mutual understanding of how things are supposed to be, but often never are. The “magic” of the holidays comes best when genuine gifts are given and generous time is spent with loved ones. When somebody goes above and beyond, that’s what I believe these holidays give us the opportunity for.