Christmas has dulled a bit for me partly because it has become so commercialized and people have made it more a matter of materialism than spirit. There are actually a few people I have stopped giving gifts to, not because of anything they had done to me directly, but because I have seen them belittle someone else's gift to them. Of course whenever I've given them anything they had been appropriately appreciative. But who knows what they say behind my back?
So now, I only give when I truly feel like it not because I feel an obligation to. I try to impart this same philosophy to my girls. If someone gives you a gift, you treat it like a gift and in the spirit that it was given. Do not expect gifts now should you feel entitled to receive one. When you give a gift, you give because you want to and you give what you can afford. Do not give expecting a present in return.
Whether you're given a dollar store candy cane, food you're allergic to or something as bizarre as Toto toilets, you don't complain, you receive graciously and gratefully. It is not the gift that matters, it is the spirit that it is given.
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