As my senses get tackled by this country’s overwhelming need to make everything ooze Christmas ever since the clocks hit 12:01am on November 1st, I realize we’re getting close to one of the holidays I have an immense love / hate for.

Personal tragic back story that you haven’t unlocked yet aside for why I loathe this time of year, I do hate how commercialized the holiday has become. It’s like we’re all like Dudley in the Sorcerers Stone when he was complaining hes 30 something gifts. I’m so beyond the age where I care about the number of gifts beneath the metaphorical Christmas tree (haven’t put up one in my own house in years, so always metaphorical) honestly it’s the sentimental gifts that make me happiest. It’s an aspect of life I realize reflects a lot in my own. I don’t want to be bought.

Hell yeah there are a few things that I’m like “oh my gosh I’ll love you forever if you get me this” or just a nice addition to my growing tie and snapbacks collections would be greatly appreciated … but all jokes aside, if a person just knew that when they were traversing through the mall & saw something that reminded them of me or was something along the lines of an inside joke, those gifts are the ones that I tend to keep for a long time.

To this day, one of my favorite Christmas celebrations was one I spent with my friend and her family. There were so many gag gifts and just gifts that showed how well everyone knew each other that made me so happy. It felt so much like I was a part of that family. It felt like home and that’s the kind of feeling I’ve always been trying to get back to during the holidays because what made it special were the people involved. We can give as many gifts as we can over the years but the precious moments and memories we make with people are something that we might not get forever.

You can’t buy happiness and love. At least not the real kinds. Those things are beyond a monetary value. Hundreds of lavish gifts don’t mean as much as one gift from the heart.

So this year, I ask of you to just remember to spread some love and show people you care. Yeah a nice gift is an incredible touch sometimes, but in all honesty when you see someone just pause because their heart is so full & there just aren’t any immediate words because of how happy they are because of the sentiment behind the gift? There’s no great gift than that to me.