What-Shall-We-Give?

You know how in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" CB is down about Christmas, unable to figure out how to be happy for it? And then Linus recites Luke, and tells CB that that's what Christmas is all about? It almost seems too obvious, like he really should have figured it out on his own.

Anyone besides me having trouble focusing on that this year?

I think I'm way too distracted by the Snoopys and their lights and display contests, i.e. annoying Christmas carol commercial jingles, endless sales and insinuations that if you don't buy people expensive presents you're a loser, people posting on their blogs how they're beautifully decorating their homes (not that they shouldn't--my pridefulness and envy is the problem on that), etc. Once again, we're celebrating Christmas living in someone else's home. This is two out of three years we've been married that my own decorations and tree stay packed in a box, far, far away. Also, we have very very little money. Very. Plus all sorts of other things I could complain about. So once again, Christmas isn't what I hoped it would be, and I have to sigh, "maybe next year" about most everything I wanted to do.

But then, I say to myself, don't I have exactly what everyone, in their heart of hearts, would hope to have at Christmas? Loved ones around me, shelter over my head, food in my tummy, and a testimony of Christ and gratefulness for His birth?

Suffice it to say, I've been in need of some TRUE Christmas spirit. Not the kind you get from cookies or fudge (though my mom has the BEST recipe on EARTH...), or from trees or poinsettias or even driving around looking at Christmas lights. I hope you guys will take a few minutes and watch these short videos, because they helped me to remember the Reason for the season and I would love to share that with you.

I hope I haven't been, shall we say, too honest in this. I don't like the idea of pretending my life is perfect or that I'm never sad just so my blog will be cuter. I also don't like my own complainey attitude and have been trying very hard to be of good cheer, but ya gotta vent sometimes. Life can be really hard and downright sucky sometimes, so why pretend otherwise? Right?

What-Shall-We-Give?

(Does anyone know how to put the video right on the page, not a link?)
(I also don't know how to put a second one in, so I'm putting it in a separate post.)