"Fa la la la la!"

"This the season to be jolly!"
Yes it is.
This week is Thanksgiving in the USA (Happy Turkey Day all of you over there!!)
I feel it's a good time to stop and reflect too.
It's so easy to get caught up in the Christmas Craze, "wanting and needing" a lot of "fluff stuff".
That's what I call things we really could live without.
Of course it's neat to "deck the halls", and make your home a bit extra cozy.
What makes me a bit sickish and sad is watching people run the race, looking and searching for "just one more thing...", when all they need is right in front of them.
Like their family.

Spending a Saturday at IKEA this last weekend, along with 50% of Finland's population, was a reminder of how spending money always bothers me in the end.
Not that I'm not happy that Hubby and I had alone time there, being able to pick up some bookshelves for our house, eating undisturbed and just being with each other.
That was great!!
Standing at the loading station (where you drive your car so you can unload your treasures) while my Hubby got our car, I spent a few minutes people watching.
I don't think what I saw was unusual, I think it's the same all over the world (especially in all the rich coutries that I've had the privilige to live in).
What I saw was gray, empty faces.
Nobody seemed a stich happier to have spent hours browsing, finding and buying stuff.
I got the sickish feeling inside.
Looking at the overloaded carts, filled with things that are somewhat needed, but many things we could do without, reminded me of the good times we have, but also wondered if the owners of the newly found stuff, had hearts that felt as full??
Maybe buying stuff is a substitute for some?
Like a drug for someone else?

So... As I prepare for Christmas, I shall try to remember how GOOD I have it.
I get daily reminders of people who have some really hard times.
With drugs.  Illnessess.  Serious money problems.  Divorces. 
And that's not after watching the news or reading the paper.

As I prepare for Christmas, I shall try to first make sure that my heart is full.
Then all the other "fluff stuff" is less important, and I hope I'll take the time to rather send a prayer and a thought where it's extra needed.
To those of you who are having a hard time, to those of you who has a close family member who's struggling, I hope your heart will be full this Christmas.  I hope you can look past the pain, and focus on the good in your life.  Because surely, there's a lot of good in your life!!
I know there's in mine....