A small Christmas

This year, Christmas is going to be "small" at my house. Come Christmas morning, the wood floor beneath the tree is not going to be overflowing with piles of perfectly wrapped packages. There will be a humble little stack just big enough to be enjoyed by five. And that's perfectly fine.

You see, when it comes down to it, my family doesn't need all that much. In fact, we don't really need anything that we don't already have. We each have a warm bed to sleep in, we have food on the table, and we have a house full of people we love. And yet, commercial after commercial comes on TV telling us just how much we need.

I think that the word "need" desperately needs to be redefined by Americans - including me. We say we need all sorts of stuff that we could easily go without. One of my good friends, Caleb, is really keen on catching my misuse of the word. We'll be driving to church, and I'll say something dumb, such as, "I need a new phone."

He takes his eyes off the road for a second, looks at me, raises an eyebrow. "Need?" he says dryly.

I give an annoyed little huff. "No, but I want one."

"I thought so."

During this time of year, everyone is telling us that we need a new TV, a new diamond necklace, a new pair of boots, a new everything and anything. In reality, we don't need any of those things. Sure, we want them, and that's perfectly fine in proportion. And we want to give these things to people that we love, which is also fine. I just think that we tend to put too much emphasis on all of these material things that will never even last.

Jesus said, "“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). This isn't a super spiritual passage -- it's just Jesus being logical. Things here on earth won't last. Period. Either they will get destroyed, or we will.

But this doesn't mean that we shouldn't buy thoughtful, meaningful gifts for each other. Please, buy nice things for the ones that you love -- just don't let the emphasis be on the thing. Let the emphasis be on the love. The present will one day be gone, and then all that will remain is love.

This year, I'm going to spend Christmas with my family, not with a mountain of stuff that I don't need. I'll treasure the few gifts I get because I will know that they were carefully picked out with me in mind. In a world where I am already so easily distracted by all the stuff that I do or don't have, by all the stuff that I supposedly need, I'm thankful for a chance to have less stuff and to have more love.