The trick about Christmas is making everybody happy. With the right gifts, the right food, the right entertainment, the right notes in the right cards, the right enthusiasm for the given gifts. And when I say everybody, I mean neighbors, kids, parents, spouse and friends.
This is an irrational feeling, I know, to imagine that something I might do or not do would have such an impact, but one that persists year after year.
The desire to make happy is one that takes every day from Thanksgiving on to accomplish, if it is accomplishable, and one that many in my situation share.
It is a labor that takes place in the mall, in the post office, in the kitchen, in the closet with the wrapping paper, in the bedroom where the lists of things to do spin in our heads when we would rather be sleeping.
Giving is something well associated with Christmas. Sacrifice is too. Making others happy is too. My work is a small, insignificant effort compared to the service done by Him whose birth we celebrate by all this temporal giving. His gifts are eternal. They bring not just happiness but peace.
A greater perspective can bring greater understanding and less stress.
But there's still a lot to do...
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