Honestly, Christmas used to be my favorite holiday but now... it sort of disgusts me.

Growing up Christmas was always supposed to be about connecting with friends and family you've missed, spending quality time, eating amazing food and creating memories with your loved ones. The holiday was always exciting because I knew I'd get to spend a few days hanging out with all of my cousins, aunts, uncles and so on. I have almost every Christmas recorded on a home video and just having everyone under one roof was always the best part of the day. Sure, we loved getting gifts, but we also loved giving them and that wasn't what all of our focus was on anyways.

Today, it feels a lot different. I feel as though I am in constant worry about not spending enough money, or what if they hate this, etc. Christmas feels like a lot of pressure now to spend my money attempting to make everyone happy, which in turn gives me a load of anxiety.

I think this anxiety also stems from watching so many people open presents and have zero appreciation for the fact that someone thought and cared enough to try to find something that makes that person happy, just to have that person disappointed or not impressed. I have also talked to many others who have agreed on Christmas also giving them anxiety because so and so said they didn't like this or don't want that.

When did gifts become a validation for our feelings?

Listen, I LOVE shopping for others. I love treating the people I love and finding things to make them smile. It just saddens me that just the thought isn't enough for some people and the gift truly is the be-all-end-all. Material goods will always be around, but the people gifting them won't be. So maybe have more compassion for the gesture and care less about what's inside the package.

I think Christmas has changed. It's consumed with big elaborate fancy gifts, the number of gifts, the money spent, the rushing around, anxiety, comparing, and pressure to please everyone. Also, social media has made it a lot more difficult to not compare and compete when it comes to how much Santa gave this child and not this one. I think it's time we find the real meaning of Christmas again (sorry for the cliche) but seriously, we really need to appreciate who were sharing this holiday with and enjoy the little moments.