Every year, Christmas grows bigger and bigger. Better sales, brighter lights, and longer advertisements, none of which have any importance to the actual meaning of Christmas. What is recalled most isn’t found in a shopping cart. It’s the people, warm moments, and the memories that could never fit under a tree that are the ones truly cherished.
Christmas is often referred to as the season of giving, but somewhere along the way, “giving” turned into “spending”. People will spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars, to meet expectations that society has built around the holiday. According to Ground Collaborative, 68% of Americans say the holidays feel significantly more stressful than joyful in the U.S. alone. That means more than half the country is weighed down by pressure during a season that was never meant to be about money.
No matter what people believe in, religious or not, Christmas originally began as a celebration of the birth of Jesus. The holiday was never meant to spark unnecessary shopping sprees; it was meant to remind the world of God’s promise and the hope that came with it. When we constantly obsess over who gets the bigger, better, pricier gifts year after year, we lose sight of the underlying miracle that started it all.
But the truth is, the meaning of Christmas isn’t something that could ever disappear. It shows up in the quiet moments that no receipt could ever capture. A family laughing over burnt cookies, seeing a friend for the first time in ages, or a handwritten note that says what a store-bought card never could. These are the kinds of gifts that last longer than toys, clothes, or the newest iPhone ever will.
Maybe the heart of Christmas isn’t lost. Maybe it’s just buried under everything people have convinced themselves they’re supposed to buy. And maybe, the greatest gift to be given is choosing to slow down, look around, and remember that love, gratitude, and togetherness don’t cost anything at all. Once the season is celebrated with joy, faith, and selflessness, people will finally honor the true purpose of Christmas: not to impress, but to cherish.
