Gifts for women in their 40s

Gifts for women in their 40s What many people think of when they think of Christmas preparations are the lists of presents they have to buy, the decorations they have to put up, the cookies they have to bake, and the cleaning they have to do. Although those things have become cultural staples for the holiday, they can sometimes conceal the real reason for the season. The Advent season is more about a preparation of the heart than a preparation of the hearth. In some ways, our society seems to be getting things backwards. This is a time of preparation for Christ's coming, but sometimes it seems like instead we are getting wrapped up in all the wrapping paper and consumed by the consumerism.

Why do we even give each other Christmas gifts in the first place? The custom of giving Christmas presents to one another comes from the example of the wise men, who traveled a long and arduous journey in order to present Christ with gifts to honor and adore him. Gift-giving is a symbol of love. During Christmas, it should remind us of the gift of Christ that we were given 2000 years ago and are continually given each and every day. These gifts symbolize our need to give the gift of Christ to others, as well as our need to receive him from others. However, the problem with giving gifts on Christmas is that the focus becomes on the gift itself, rather than on the gift we are celebrating–Jesus Christ. We get excited for Christmas, more often because of the excitement from opening gifts than from the joy that comes from celebrating the gift of our Savior.

The gift-giving custom has gotten way out of hand. Each year, the U.S. spends hundreds of billions of dollars on Gifts for women in their 40s gifts, and I, too, am certainly a contributor to that number. We feel this need to participate in the practice because it is expected of us. Plus, it is difficult to deny the excitement of wanting to see others' desires fulfilled, while also satisfying your own. In the end, though, it is only surface-level. The happiness does not last. The presents are opened, and soon enough, the excitement and fulfillment fade, and next year, we only have new things we want in order to feel "fulfilled." The only thing that can truly fulfill us is Jesus Christ himself!