I can’t believe the holiday season is already upon us. It’s even more unbelievable considering the atmosphere here in the U.S. Well, the whole world for that matter. As I was decorating our petroleum-based fake Christmas tree the other night (I bought that bad boy before I dedicated myself to going green), I thought to myself, “Wow. It DOES NOT feel like Christmas at all.” I even purposely glanced outside at our snow-covered backyard to try to help me get jazzed. But man, things are just not jazzy. People are getting laid off. companies are folding (The Rocky Mountain News might be one of them), and folks in general are fearful for their jobs. My husband and I are no exception.

My family has implemented a monetary limit this year for gifts. And while the limit is still a pretty nice sum (I’m an only child so our nuclear family is pretty small), it’s way less than what we normally blow on presents at Christmas. But there’s good and bad to this, really. The good – I really have to put some thought into gifts. This directly contradicts my instinctual behavior when shopping for gifts, as I’ve inherited my grandmother Daly’s natural inclination for “fillers” – aka., little gifts to fill in between the big ones. This in turn brings up another good aspect of our limited gift-giving: you really enjoy what you DO wind up getting. With no fillers to distract, complete focus is redirected to the gifts that really matter.

The bad? Well that’s a no-brainer: less gifts. There’s nothing better than waking up Christmas morning to a tree that’s lousy with sparkly gifts. Actually – the only other thing that compares or might even be better is waking up to a big fluffy snowfall on Christmas morning. This is also something we might be going without this year, as the weather has been unseasonably warm. So much for sledding on Christmas day.

So, like I’ve been saying, it sure doesn’t feel like Christmas. I’ve been thinking though – maybe Christmas has different meanings each year. Sometimes it’s about the gifts. Others it’s about trying to make it out of town to visit family during a record-breaking snow storm. This year, for me, I think Christmas is going to be more about people and food. Don’t get me wrong – the holidays have always meant family to me. But you take it for granted. And the food – I think the food has become a replacement for physical gifts.

Like I said, this Christmas is going to be less than stellar for everyone. But, it’s times like these that help put things back into perspective. Probably the most important thing that I want for Christmas is to have family with me. And I will. Everything else is just filler, I guess.