Giving of Ourselves

Shortly after I found the picture quote I shared last night's blog post, I found this more complete version of the quote. I used the other version first because it was simpler and had a prettier background image, but now I want to look at the last part of the quote.

"One of the ways in which we obtain the Christmas spirit -- the Christ spirit -- is by willingly giving of ourselves to others."

I was just had a conversation about gift-giving with two of my siblings, and the general consensus between the three of us is that we don't really need any more stuff. And if we wanted more stuff, we could probably just get it ourselves. What we really wanted as gifts, if anything, was time. Time spent together, just having fun. Time spent in service to each other, helping each other with things. Things like that. The "gifts" we want most from each others are the gifts of ourselves.

This holiday season, try to spend some time with your family. Physical gifts are nice and all, but it's entirely possible that the only thing your family members really want for Christmas is you.