Christmas for a Crank...

This year has been a hard one for me to get into the Christmas spirit. Do I even know what the Christmas spirit is? Well, I'm not sure. And here's why:
If the Christmas spirit is giving then why do we have to ring bells to get people's attention and, I often feel guilty if I don't put something in ever single red kettle I come across. Why is giving so hard if it's the spirit of Christmas? Maybe it's because we want to give, but only to those we know or love... or, quite honestly, we give to those we know will give back. Ouch.
If the spirit of Christmas is about family, that can't be, families always seem to be stressed to the max this time of year. Mom and Dad arguing about Christmas money. Kid's so excited they end up fighting with each other constantly. There is so much "Christmas spirit" stress that Dads and Moms often end up worse off and even splitting up this time of year!
In reality the Christmas spirit seems to be more about getting than giving or family. And if I was honest, I fall into that trap all too often. But last night got me in the mood.

Last night we celebrated the birth of Jesus with our Real Life family at Christmas '09 and it was great! 90+ of our closest friends got together to "share" (that's a word for giving) their Christmas food creations with everyone and for the most part each family sat together at wonderfully decorated tables and we got to talk about the real Spirit of Christmas, the birth of a baby named Jesus who changed the world and would later change people, one at a time.

I may still get stressed about gift giving and not having enough... I may still witness (or be involved in) a family squabble. For for a couple hours last night it was Christmas. And I was in the spirit.