Christmas and the holiday season can be an incredibly stressful time for a lot of people.

If you have a large family, then the stress arises from taking your time and buying gifts

for all your family members and having the anxiety of what if they don't like the gift

because it seems like everyone wants some materialistic gift these days, whether it is a book or a video game or some

kind of new gadget or an appliance.

If you don't have a large family,

then the stress is, well, you don't have anyone to spend your time with.

This stress is a lot of times if you are living in a different city, or if your parents are abroad or if you're not with your loved one at the moment or you know if you just find yourself alone.

That can be a stressful situation

especially because of the way that this season is positioned in its commercial ways where you see ads and everyone's together and

beside the fireplace and opening gifts together and having a great time.

It's all very romantic and very Hollywood-esque and very lovey-dovey.

And while there's nothing wrong with that per se, holidays can be a great time to have meaningful moments with family.

Overall, over the years years it has become a bit more on the commercial side and

very materialistic.

I was speaking to my friend a couple of weeks back and he was so stressed out because he had to buy gifts for I think about eight to nine members of his family and we just spoke about you know what if a gift was

just the gift of your presence what if a gift was just a greeting car what if a gift was just a greeting car? What if a gift was a hug, right? What if a gift was just some time spent together.

I mean for people like myself who want to spend time with my mother,

I'm not going to get that gift right now.

And I know that so many of you have your mothers

and you've got your fathers and you've got your friends.

That is the true meaning of Christmas. That is a true meaning of the holidays is to spend

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