Tis the season

So after church today I had to go drop off some keys from work that I had accidentally taken home with me last night. Get down to the mall area and cars are backed up down the ramp and onto the highway about a half a mile down. I have to go down one exit, get off, turn around, go back down the highway, get off at that exit which thankfully had less people. If it hadn't, I would have just gone home! Anyway, I get to the mall entrance and cars are going in and out, lines forming behind stop signs, parking lot filling up really quickly. I get to Dick's parking lot and it is PACKED! I had to drive around a couple times to find a space to park. Go inside and the register lines are all full, people packing the store. I'm in shock..

You see, up till this point I really have never been shopping the week of Christmas; I try to get all my stuff done before then. Plus this year, I'm looking through the new perspective of working in retail myself. These past couple weeks I've almost been wishing that Christmas would just get itself over with. And that just makes me sad. All the time as I was driving through the hustle and bustle today, I felt no Christmas spirit. None. Zero. Zilch. How do we get ourselves so wrapped up in the shopping, in the material part of the season. I know that people say this all the time, but then we go right back out there and keep doing it.

But then I got home, I pulled up to my house and I just felt right. I went inside and started laughing and joking with my family, just enjoying being together and I think, "this is it!" The differences in the two feelings were so far apart it wasn't even funny. The two greatest gifts that have ever been given to me is my wonderful family, and especially my Savior. Christmas is a celebration of both of these gifts. And that makes me look forward to the rest of this week!