Wrangler Dani

Yesterday, I asked a general question to the social media lands, “how do you stay sane at Christmastime?” Overwhelmingly, the response I heard, and the response I’ve been hearing from everywhere – the radio, church, friends – is NO MORE PRESENTS. Donate to charity, send your loved ones a card, hug a polar bear instead, but stop hassling with shopping and wrapping already.

I have to tell you – I love all of you to pieces and I’m very glad that not buying stuff (or buying stuff for charity) makes your season so much brighter, but that just doesn’t work for me.

Maybe I’m just too immature, but I LOVE presents and I really don’t feel bad about it. Our church is doing a thing right now called “Celebrate Different” (which is terrible grammar, I know, tell them, not me) and they’re encouraging everyone to buy charitable donations instead of Ugly Christmas Sweaters for friends and family. Now, if you’re a truly terrible gift-giver, maybe you should take their advice – but for me, giving gifts is how I show my dear ones that I really have been listening all year, as they’ve sighed over scarves or asked about a book I love or excitedly told me about a new hobby. It’s the one time a year that it’s perfectly acceptable to go all out – to spend a little extra and scour the mall, the internet and the discount stores for the perfect thing, and make it even more perfect with sparkly wrappings, big, lustrous bows and my own giddy excitement over how much the recipient will love it.

I prowl for weeks before Christmas, hoarding up little doo-dads and shopping sales with dedication, desperate to find that “thing” the perfect item, the cherry on top. I remember the gifts I give more than the gifts I receive – last year, I did an amazing job on Adam’s stocking and I still get all giggly when I think of his face, shocked and amazed as fun manly gadgets kept pouring out of it, or the year before, at Denver’s excited, gruff “what?!” as he pulled out a snow saw – miraculously, I got the right one, the best one, completely on a hunch and I was so happy that he loved it. Some people are tricky to buy for *Chelsea*coughcough* but I accept the challenge as a diver would a shipwreck – it might be a bit hard to navigate, but I know I will dive in deep enough to find the perfect gift one of these years, and my hard work will be rewarded.

So, I guess here’s my only request to the gift boycotters of the world. If buying something for charity or making a donation gives you yuletide peace, relish it! Let it spill over and out and bless your loved ones with the abundance of the joy that comes from having a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, a reason to rejoice. But do me a favor: don’t make the bold statement that gift-givers are a bunch of materialistic, “throw-money-at-relationships” types.

Despite the trends and the bad press it gets, I’m not giving up on Christmas presents. Because this is one little gift-lover who uses something silly, a perfectly soft sweater or a personalized print or a snow saw, to tell the people I love how much I love them. It’s my way of giving away what has been given to me, of rejoicing in a season of long nights and drizzly days that we have indeed a Savior who is born unto us, a reason for generosity and a hope for tomorrow.