Christmas should be all year.  I have traditions that date back, at this point, decades that fertilize the expectation of happy times at Christmas.  Midnight Christmas Eve events.  Downtown Manteo celebration.  House decorations including boats in the downtown harbor.

Yes, of course in the warm & fuzzy feelings but also in the way we live and prepare all year.

A lot of people believe that Christmas is too commercialized.  Probably.  The reason, the why is what is important.  It’s mainly in remembrance of our savior being born in a humble stable and recognizing the start of the new era in human existence.  

When my brother and I were growing up, Christmas was a really big deal.  No matter the circumstances Christmas would be all out as our means allowed.  My Mother played Santa and I would wake up to a living room full of gifts brought by Santa.  I suspect that my Grandmother had a lot to do with the means by which this was accomplished.

One year we were camping at the old Sandpiper’s Trace on the north end of Roanoke Island. (It’s now a big dollar housing area.)  I remember hearing the one and only radio station with someone doing a ‘tracking’ of Santa.  I was so excited, but eventually I fell asleep and when I awoke the next morning Santa had come to our Pop-Up camper.  It was beyond magical.

As my marriage started when I was 23 I began the habit that still pursues to this day.  Living in a suburb of Charlotte finding deals was easy at various stores.  i would buy Christmas Ornaments for .25 cents in January, decorate them in November to give to family and friends for Christmas.

As life progressed so did my bargain meter.  Because I purchased things all year with specific people in mind I could afford to participate at a level that held fond memories from my otherwise challenging childhood.  

When I give gifts the costs are minimal.  Last year I gave the women in my life shawls that had cost $10 each, but I paid .75 cents last summer for each of them.  The original cost was $10.00.  Buying stuff all year allows me to provide some shadow of what I knew as a child. 

Every January I buy Christmas supplies at 90% off - wrapping paper, bows, ribbon and goodies.  The goodies must be in date for at least 18 months or I won’t buy them - unless it’s very special and I’m really getting it for a birthday that will happen sooner than Christmas.  I pay .25 cents for 12 pack candy canes which I use to decorate my gifts.  It’s nothing for me to find a full size roll of wrapping paper for .50 cents or a bag of bows for .25 cents.

So this is a lifelong habit.  When I see ‘Sushi’ jelly candy I think of my daughter’s birthday so I pay the .75 cents and put it in the box for her birthday.  When I find gourmet jelly in unusual flavors for less than $2 I get them for my Mom - I get her jellies every year.  When white, cotton washcloths are on clearance at Walmart I buy them because Mom uses them and needs new ones throughout the year. 

As I’m finding these deals it’s not really about the monetary value it’s that I’m thinking about a specific person.  I don’t go looking I just know where to look at the retail stores I go to routinely.  Higher priced items, like a new ‘laptop’ for 2 year olds for my granddaughter’s main Christmas, I watch Amazon and get it for 75% off.

I also try to make something every year for those very special people in my life.  It might be an ornament, a dream catcher, a seashell angel, a special photo that is especially nice, etc…..  So all year I find the supplies for this.  Mini grapevine wreaths $1 a dozen when will become dreamcatcher ornaments.

Anyone receiving gifts from me can be sure of a few things:

• You were thought of at some point in the year
• I’m not ‘overspending’ and in fact give you nice things that I have been prepared to buy at huge discounts
• My financial sacrifice for this is minimal because of the way I do things
• Goodies like special hot chocolate and large candy canes have been purchased at 90% off and in date well into the following year that you receive them.
• Perhaps even more important than it all is that I’m recognizing all year that the birth of  Jesus provided our path to returning to our Heavenly Father through salvation from his sacrifice, and I want you to have some part of that feeling too.

See the good

Be the good

Embrace the good

Deny the bad

Turn away from harm

Separate from the challenges that you can

………… and know you are loved and thought of by me all year long.