It has become popular these days to dismiss Christmas as being overdone and commercialized. With the way retailers have used this time of year as a sort of prostitute, gallivanting in the malls, box marts and stores the world over, enticing customers to buy a sordid mess of unnecessary “stuff, it is no wonder many of us are beginning to embrace that sentiment.

But, I must say that there is something about this time of year that is very hard to reproduce elsewhere. For example, I adore coffee. I just love the stuff. I am also a huge connoisseur of tea. I don’t really speak openly about this with everyone, but it casually comes up in conversation from time to time both at work and in other circles. Well, I was pleasantly surprised when my boss brought to my desk a basket filled with fair trade coffees and teas along with some biscotti and a ceramic mug, wrapped in a beautiful, golden bow. I was really moved by that.

Of course, it wasn’t about the gift, per se, though I know that I’m going to use and enjoy every drop of it. However, it was the sentiment. This lady is the director of a department that is home 32 staff, she has a family with young children and also relatives, neighbors and friends, yet she found the time to purchase something that obviously took time to select. I wonder what went through her mind. What was the thought process that led her to the point where she purchased that gift basket for me? Just the thought of that fills me with joy. Now, the skeptic would argue that she could have purchased that gift any time during the year, but let’s face it, it would not have had the same effect.

Christmas, then, is a wonderful time of year, and not all traditions are “stupid” as one of my colleagues put it. Sure, it has become commercialized and—in some ways – it has lost its meaning, but this does not mean that we should throw it all out the window. There are things we can do to make our Christmas experience more meaningful, thus keeping the tradition alive for generations to come.