Christmas Shopping

Well it is that crazy time of year..Don't get me wrong I love Christmas!! I love the traditions, smells and sounds and goodness it seems to bring out in people...For the most part everyone is a little nicer and you see a few more smiles while you are out and about, ok maybe that changes the closer Dec. 25th gets.
This Christmas has been different for me, I have tried for the most part to shop without lists. I have wanted to shop and buy gifts that I choose for people, not knowing "what they want". To take time to think of the person I am buying for and how can I put a smile on their face. I have loved this! My sweet husband has always shopped this way, but I always argued "I want to give them something that want". So I would get lists and buy something from that list and in that, buying Christmas gifts became yet another chore not the joyful experience it should be.
I worried about what I was buying, how much I spending. But this year the thought came to me it really is "the thought that counts". That is not just something you say when you feel like you haven't spent enough.
So why the change in me? I can only connect it to the on going work God is doing in me in regards to my own relationship with stuff. Because the truth is there is NOTHING I need and I hope more and more there is nothing I WANT so.....Christmas is not about getting stuff we want, it is about thinking about those you love and are thankful for and share that with them and that should be personal and thoughtful. So maybe I have realized that Christmas is not as shallow as I have made it and neither are those in my life.