Merry Christmas, Little J

I don't really like Christmas, but you will find that every year it comes around with annoying regularity. In particular, I dislike the materialism. As a body who is hopeless at keeping secrets or special surprises (remember this before you confide, ps) it is incredibly hard for me to:

1. upon sourcing an ideal present for an ideal person, refrain from proudly presenting said present immediately and,

2. try to find an ideal present when under extreme pressure as a result of lack of time, lack of funds and/or lack of inspirations.

I find others have these problems also. This is why, late Christmas Eve, gift shops are packed with desperados rushing around trying to find something, anything, to wrap and give the unfortunate individual still without a gift under the tree (a tree whch is probably fake and doused with tacky decorations). These presents are meaingless and materialistic; just more things.

I'm sick of trying to make every Christmas a Dream Christmas. It never dishes up that level of satisfaction. There is always somebody missing... I'm jealous of people who always have their entire family around them, all of whom make an effort to pitch in with the celebrations. You may think this is dreamy and unrealistic, but I actually know people like that. I always feel alone at Christmas, no matter who is around.

Anyway, in an effort to now turn this mini-emo-essay into a more positive insight, I'll let you know my day hasn't been all bad... I still had most of my close family and one of my extended family around and I had fun giving them presents I knew they would love, in turn getting good ones myself. Also, because I am currently in my first full time job with all the benefits, I'm getting a little kick out of getting paid without having to be at work! Definately a plus.

So I really hope everybody had a good Christmas... we just have to remember that its a time for peace, and catching up, and lazing around for the day, and remembering Jesus' birth. Because without Him, we wouldn't even be here, and that'd not be much fun, would it?

xx OTIG