Christmas time is here....

...time to spend some money.

Lots of it.

And I am as guilty as everyone else.

As I sit here wrapping this mound of presents purchased for my hubby for our very first "married" Christmas, I can't help but think - why?  Why do we feel the need to spend, spend, spend every year?

My mum and I were discussing the whole Christmas gift thing yesterday in the car.  We have, as a family, decided to pare down to a stocking and one gift each.  My mum said it reminded her of the year we went out west to visit my dad's family in Edmonton.

I was around 7, my sister 4 when my parents flew us all out to be with my dad's family for Christmas.  At the time, my mother was a secretary making just over minimum wage, and my dad worked at a gas bar.  As I'm sure you can imagine, things were tight - so tight in fact that by the time all was said and done, there was less than $20 each for Christmas gifts for my sister and I, and my mum and dad went without.

But you know what - I remember that Christmas clear as day, because that was the I got my very own box of 60 Laurentian pencil crayons.

It still is, to this day, one of the best gifts I ever received.  I used those pencils down to nubs.  I was the only kid at school who had them and when I sat there, watching my cousins opening gift after gift after gift, I took each colour out of the box and read its name to my mum.  I didn't know copper was a pencil crayon!!

She said it was the most awful Christmas ever, but to me, it was one of the best.

So, the next time you're standing in line with a shopping cart full of stuff that you know your family won't remember in a few days, let alone a few years, remember, spending won't make it a memorable Christmas, but giving from the heart will.