Christmas Time

I love Christmas time. I love almost everything about it. I love the smells of peppermint sticks, fresh mistletoe, vanilla bean noel lotion, all of my yummy Christmas candles. I love all of the beautiful, glittery lights, the fresh snow falling from the sky, the delicious baked treats, homemade Christmas candies, so much to love about Christmas! But it seems like every year I have an inward struggle with trying to stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas. Sometimes I despise this time of year. All of the adds, commercials, sales people advertising toys that our kids really don't need, electronics we can really do without, clothes that will just flood our closets more than they already are, gizmos and gadgets that will just clutter our homes. Yet everyyear I seem to get so caught up in it and I feel this guilt inside of myself for focusing on "things" other than "Him". I think Christmas time has become an excuse to be selfish for many people, myself included. It is a time of the year where we have the excuse to whip out the credit cards and get this and that and more crap that we really don't need, or may not even really want. It is truly a love-hate relationship. The other day I was cleaning my Grandma's house and I saw a little Christmas decoration of the Savior when he was born in a little manger in a very humble setting. It said, "But first and forever there was just a little family, without toys or trees or tinsel. With a baby—that's how Christmas began." I saw that and I just kind of groaned to myself because I thought, "I did it again, I got caught up in the gifts and the stuff and the stores and got distracted." IT IS SO HARD SOMETIMES! What helps you stay focused? One thing I have found that helps me is to read talks on lds.org about Christmas time.

This is an excerpt from, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" I really like this story.
Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Crumpit, He rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it! “Pooh-Pooh to the Whos!” he was grinch-ish-ly humming. “They’re finding out now that no Christmas is coming! “They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do! “Their mouths will hang open a minute or two “Then the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry Boo-Hoo!
“That’s a noise, “grinned the Grinch, “That I simply MUST hear!”So he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear. And he did hear a sound rising over the snow. It started in low. Then it started to grow …
But the sound wasn’t sad! Why, this sound sounded merry! It couldn’t be so! But it WAS merry! VERY!
He stared down at Who-ville! The Grinch popped his eyes! Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!
Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, Was singing! Without any presents at all! He HADN‘T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME! Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?” “It came without ribbons! It came without tags! “It came without packages, boxes or bags!”
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas … perhaps … means a little bit more!”