The Spiritual part of Christmas

So maybe it is just my imagination, but it seems to me like Christmas has become a holiday for getting instead of giving. I know kids makes lists pages long and have really expensive toys on their lists, such as video game systems, TVs, Ipods, etc. and I hate that part of Christmas. It always makes me so sad when I hear of moms who buy their own gifts because their husbands don't pick out what they want or need. To me Christmas is a holiday for giving. Probably about 10-15 years ago my family changed the way that we do Christmas, because we wanted it to be more Christ centered, over the years it has evolved somewhat, but the gist is still the same. We pick names for one person in our family, we set a limit of how much money that everyone can spend and then we have to think about what our person really would want. Something that they probably wouldn't go and buy for themselves but something they would really like. It has been so much fun and it has made Christmas so much more meaningful. For me (and the rest of my family) we have really enjoyed what we got for someone else, more than we enjoy what we got, but at the same time we enjoy what we got more than we would have, because we know that the person that got it for us put a lot of time and thought into what they gave us. We now do lists on our birthday, after all, birthdays are the days to celebrate your birth. Then my husband and I go to a marriage seminar class once a month and our teacher (a marriage counselor) told us about a tradition they started in their family...a tradition of giving a gift to Christ (since after all it is His birthday). Just one sin, or something that is hard for you to do...just to completely give it up. So my husband and I did that this year too, and we decided to help us to remember our gifts that we would keep the box with our gifts in it in a prominent place. I love the Spirit of giving...people are so much more inclined to give at Christmas time; if the world was this giving all year long the world would be a much better and happier place!!! But it is this season when we remember and acknowledge the birth of our Savior and His humble beginnings that His spirit is felt throughout our hearts, communities, and the world! I got this from the online gospel art book found here: http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,8555-1-4779-4,00.html