All I Want for Christmas This Year Is Hugs

This has been the most unusual start of the Christmas season ever for me and maybe for others, too.  I don’t know what it is but something different is definitely in the air.  For the first time ever, I don’t have my Christmas cards purchased, I don’t have my Christmas shopping even started and for some reason, I don’t seem to care.  And for anyone who knows me, this is unlike how I have approached any Christmas in the past when I would have taken care of many of these details by now.  But, I think I am starting to figure it out.

“With the number of people dealing with breast cancer anywhere in this country or in other countries, I am pretty certain that you will find that there are medical personnel somewhere who will be willing to create such a supportive program for those who are their patients and their support people.”Barbara Jacoby

For the first time ever, I am not looking forward to Christmas Day because of the presents.  I have always worried about finding just the right thing for everyone.  What if the things that I picked out were not what someone else wanted?  Did I spend the same amount of money on each person so that someone did not feel slighted?  Could I have done more or done better if I had started earlier.  Did I do enough searching for unique gifts so that others would know just how important it was to me to make them happy and to help them understand how important they are to me?  Such stress, and yes, I was never, ever satisfied with the choices that I made as I felt like the recipients may not really have liked what I had selected for them.

This year, I had made some new choices about how I would do things. I kept up most of the same traditions that I had established many years ago because I really love them and enjoy them. And for some of the small gifts that may have been purchased in the past, I calculated how much it usually costs me and added some extra cash and purchased some toys, etc. to donate to the local toy drive for donation to those families who do not have enough money to buy gifts for their children.

That leaves the most important person on my list and that is my husband. I never know what to get for him but as always, I will figure out some things that will provide for us to have our own very special gift opening together on Christmas Day. But there is absolutely nothing that I want this year except for hugs.  There are no presents wrapped up under the tree that could warm my heart and soul like a hug from someone else’s heart can do.  Hugs cost nothing and can be given every single day of the year to those with whom we wish to share them.  And long after the last ornament is tucked away for another year and all of the paper and bows have been tossed away, I will still receive my favorite gift of the holidays each and every time that I receive another hug.