What More Do We Need?

Wow, where do I start?!  I am finally finding some humor in this holiday season. The spirit just didn't want stick to me this year, at least not my normal Christmas spirit, even after our trip to Leavenworth...Christmas City Northwest (which I mentioned in a previous post), but I have discovered my new Christmas spirit and I am finally enjoying it!

In retrospect, looking back at this holiday season, I can definitely point out some specific things that led to some corrosion of my spirit.  Let's take for example...malls...ugh.  My dear friend, Tina, works (or should I say, worked...today is her last day!) at a kiosk at South Center Mall in Tukwila, WA.  If you are not from this area of our beautiful country, let's just say it is the largest mall I've ever been to outside of Los Angeles.  Whenever I go there, which is about once a year (this season I went twice, so I'm good for a while), I have to make a mental map in my brain so I don't get lost.  I've decided I'm much better at doing things one store at a time, each with their own parking lot.

Due to this years shopping experiences, I have taken serious issue with clothing stores that have next to no lighting, which in turn allow for far too many make out corners, of which I saw many...not what I was shopping for.  Headquarters would do well to make certain changes during the Christmas season to their stores to make them more appealing to the (slightly) older generations, which are the ones spending the majority of money at this time of year. Just sayin'.

My next issue would be store music, not the type but the volume...really?  And I love music, all kids of music and I like it loud, so this is saying a lot.  Why would anyone want to have to yell inside a store?  It's a good thing I've learned to read lips and I'm pretty sure more than one salesperson thinks I'm deaf, probably due to the hand motions I made requesting they look me directly in the face while speaking.  Hahaha!  Now that was fun!

My 12 year old daughter went shopping with me a couple of times during the weeks leading up to Christmas and I am pleased to announce that she is in complete agreement with me about the music volume.  (She can't be in agreement with me about the "make-out corner stores" because I don't allow her into those stores. My reasoning to her about that? " Because you can't see it, so why would you want to buy it?  Let's stick to the stores with lights.")  Her words about the volume are as follows, "Mom, I'm done shopping in here, I can't think."  Man, I love that girl!

I think, though, the biggest thing I noticed that contributed to my lack of Christmas spirit was just watching people shop.  My husband & I went out several times, neither one of us wanting to cram it all in, and we like to use this time to enjoy each others company, but (and I guess this is me being an "emotional sponge") I so often found myself struggling by the end of the evening.  To me this is a time of year to set aside time to show love to each other (something I try to make a priority every day), but Christmas gift giving is part of that. What I saw all too often was rudeness, self-absorbency, pettiness and anger.  I mean, I know it's probably always been there, but this year it just seemed to stand out more and maybe that was because I was out-and-about more, I'm not sure, but it sure was a bummer.

In this nation, and we are far from being a poor nation, we associate happiness with "stuff".  There is a Vegie Tales show where they feature "Stuff Mart" (my pet name for Costco), and you can buy anything your heart desires, all on the premise that then you will be happy.  What we forget though is that next week there will be something else we want, etc., etc. How much do we need to make us happy?  Where does happiness stem from?  Yes, it's wonderful to have things that make us smile and bring us joy.  Things that represent on a physical who we are spiritually, but also, buying just to buy and then doing it in anger will not bring joy.

We live in a country filled with abundance on every level, yet so many act like they have nothing...an absolute dichotomy. We, as a people living in the United States, are lacking virtually nothing that we need to be happy, at least in this day and age, yet I watched people scrambling, sometimes like animals, grabbing at things and stressing out, looking for that one "thing" that would make someone happy.  Another thought crossed my mind, if it is so much trouble finding "something", maybe we don't know each other very well.  Maybe more time spent together is what is needed and the gift could be something to accentuate that time and also what you get out of it.

This year we focused on shopping small, finding the hard-to-find, and keeping Christmas simple and joyful.  Yes, eventually I found my Christmas spirit and it came through friends & family and my love for them.  I am truly blessed with fabulous people in my life.  People who know me and love me, faults & imperfections included, as I know many of you are, too. So really (besides food, water, oxygen & sleep), what more do we need?