The Christmas season is in full swing, and that means that it’s time to finish up all of your gift shopping. By now you’ve probably rushed to the store a dozen times because you realized that you forgot to buy a gift for some obscure family member that is coming to your family celebration for the first time in years. It’s also possible that you found out that your friend spent a lot more money on you that you did on her, so you need to buy something else. Or maybe you just heard about a fantastic sale that you just could not miss out on.

Whatever the case, I think we can all agree that the gift buying frenzy is all too real. Everyone spends way too much time agonizing over what presents to get and how much money to spend and forgets about why we’re giving gifts in the first place.

We give gifts because on the first Christmas, God gave us the best gift of all: Jesus. He loved us so much that he wanted to give us the gift of a savior.

While we can’t give someone else a savior, at least not in the way that God did, we can emulate that first Christmas gift by picking out thoughtful gifts for our friends and family that they are guaranteed to love, not just something that we quickly grabbed off the shelf because we needed something else.

This also extends beyond our friends and family to people that we don’t even know. In the hustle and bustle of the season, we often forget that Christmas is a great time to give monetary gifts to organizations that provide for those less fortunate. It's also a time of year when blood banks and food pantries are running out of supplies, even though the need is often greater during the holidays. These organizations will gladly accept the physical donations you have to offer.

So as you go about your shopping, keep in mind the true meaning of Christmas giving. After all, to give is better than to receive.