The Real Story of Christmas - Answering all those questions like why we eat turkey at Xmas etc..

This hub answers many questions

Prepare yourself before reading this hub. It will start out with my views on the commercialization of Christmas, but rest assured it gets deeper and more enlightened to show you, to decode the mystery, how Christmas started, who started it as we know it today, and why do we do the things we do? Why do we eat turkey? What's the sleigh about? Why that red suit?

This is a no BS approach to Christmas, This hub will open your eyes...

This hub answers a lot of questions and will crack the conspiracy open to let in the real Christmas story, realm, reality, the warm tender and beautiful Christmas I experience with my god children, my family, my roommate, each year.

To me Christmas season, the real one not the commercial one, starts on December 1st and end around February first. I timed it around when we get the Christmas tree and when most of us take it down.

Why I wrote this hub

Every year around Christmas people ask what I want and I always tell them "Nothing". My reasons are simple- I don't buy into the "your obligated to buy me a gift or I'll think your a scrooge" mentality.

In my eyes if you know me well enough, like me well enough, to want to buy me a gift, then you will already know what to get me. Not because it's something I want, but because you know what is important to me and your gift is all about showing me you care about me and my happiness. If you have to ask then your probably buying it out of obligation.

If I want things I like I can easily buy them myself, the gifts I want to receive for Christmas I want to mean something BEYOND the present or it's luxurious material benefactors. One year (ok last year) I received several presents, some of them really good, digital even, but they were all obligatory (is that a word?) gifts, the one I cherished, adored even was my roommate buying me a huge container of Cashew nuts.

I told her a story once (4 months prior even!) about how my dad would buy cashews and eat most of them giving us kids one or two, maybe a small handful, so they were very valuable. To this day I treasure cashews as the very taste of them is golden. The fact that she remembered that showed me she was a real friend who really listened to me. I told her that story in passing, and with all that happened after that I was astonished she remembered!

But Jerrico what about us asking our kids to make Christmas lists.. is this saying that we don't know or care about them? NO absolutely not...

It's different when you have kids write a Christmas list. Although we know our kids the difference is their interests change at the blink of an eye. The list is so we can orient ourselves with what they want right now. Christmas for kids is all about the nostalgic Christmas scenery, presents and so forth, but the problem is that nobody is teaching them the meaning behind the actions.

When my god children want to open those presents all month long it's all the can talk about, they want to shake them play with them and guess what it is. The excitement fires out of their eyes and smiles with amazing fidelity.

I noticed something funny though that happens just about every year. No matter how good the toy, how much they begged to get that bratz doll or that Barbie village, the excitement of opening the present was the real gift. We used to joke about the kids when they were just babies, they would unwrap the present and throw the thing inside down and play with the wrapping paper!

We'd joke about just wrapping up a bunch of boxes instead of real presents, I mean who would know the difference? As they got older they knew a real present from a box however they (so long as the gift was real) would still react the same way. Instead of playing with the present they played with the idea behind the curiosity of the gift! They wouldn't even play with the toys until two days later! This is what Christmas is supposed to be about, the fun, the excitement- NOT the presents themselves. Kids know it, adults lose track of this magic.

Kids at some point, expect presents not because they realize their parents, aunts and uncles care, they expect them out of mostly selfishness. A lot of it is watching how the adults interact about present buying, shopping, and the desperate need to have a gift for the office exchange you don't even want to participate in.

Kids see this and develop the same infectious attitude over time. They no longer want the magic, they want the gift and if it isn't exactly what they asked Santa for they forget Christmas spirit and think someone let them down. What happened? If they didn't they'd thank people personally after opening each gift, hugs all around, but that's not what happens. Mostly "what you got me socks???"

The truth is I'm a scrooge during the early part of Christmas, but I think more so because I realize some things that many suffering the mass hysteria don't. I see people acting like Christmas robots, commercial slavery abound, I see that they just don't get what Christmas is really about. I love Christmas, the real Christmas, not the commercial one.

It really upsets me that people have become lost in the commercialization. Those who refuse to get caught up in it are called scrooges or Grinches, but realistically they are realists and people who don't want to participate in a commercial holiday, although they'd love to in a "Christmas" Holiday.

I don't think Christmas is about religion either, sure the churches dipped their cones into the ice cream of Christmas, who wouldn't its free advertizing on the lips of all the world, but it's in no way a religious holiday. It's about all the things I'll explain in a minute. This hub is the secret REAL Christmas story and what Christmas has become.

Towards the end I explain what real Christmas is supposed to look like. I wrote this hub for my kids (so when I tell them someday that Santa is not real, after of course their friends do, I won't spoil the fun for them until I have to 'splain myself- the jig is up) to explain to them the real Christmas so they can continue the warm feeling of love even after Santa clause is just a symbol not a magical creature with some holes in his resume' of "how does he get all those toys down a chimney etc.."

I want to crack the code of Christmas and hopefully give people a clue, that as far as Christmas goes...

Most people are DOING IT ALL WRONG

It irritates me that people think Christmas is about giving and receiving gifts, and Christmas parties they don't want to go to. They don't realize that Christmas is about love, about giving AND receiving, not just gifts but attention, compassion, forgiveness etc...

It's not about obligation to buy everyone gifts and going broke charging your credit cards out of some invisible obligation to give gifts even to those brats (adults too) who don't deserve them. People have lost the true meaning of Christmas and Christmas has become disenchanted.

Christmas has almost become a version of commercial extortion. The commercials got everyone so amped up that if you don't buy someone a gift they think you don't like them, respect them, or care to think about them. The reality is a pity gift, the kind you give someone out of obligation not to look like a putz, or selfish, is worse than no gift. When people get me a gift that feel obligatory I want to just throw it away. The more it is something I wanted the worse I feel about accepting it unless they truly got it because they wanted to.

I have to admit I am SICK of all the SAME Christmas songs playing every year (why don't they make new ones???) I'm starting to believe that they have some hidden message and were all being brainwashed by them, or maybe just the kids? I actually thought about this a bit (and then wrote this hub based on my insights) and realized I am sick of the songs because they do not speak the truth.

They say one thing but people, mainly parents to their kids, never follow what their telling their kids, the very message the songs were meant to pass on are being ignored by contradiction! When I hear the songs with my own children it's magical, because I don't contradict them but most people do... and it irritates me... Let me explain.

We show our kids that we contradict our own Christmas values by singing that "you better not shout you better not cry, scream I'm telling you why... Santa Claus is coming to town..." for that song to have real meaning, to love a song it must have meaning to us, we have to show the kids that Santa has value... if he comes to town and they are bad and Santa still gives them gifts we're contradicting the whole song. I know you may think I'm reading too much into this but realistically speaking, you do know this actually affects our kids and their trust issues right?

We sing the naughty or nice list song but no matter how naughty they are all the way up to and including Christmas day we still give them gifts... why? Because we feel guilty, bad mommy or daddies don't give kids presents right?

I tell you I've held my kids presents one year till a week after Christmas, I made them watch all the other kids open theirs (even though I didn't agree they deserved theirs either but I'm not their parents)..

because they were absolute terrors. I did it in front of all the family who also witnessed their attitudes. I got a lot of flack but my kids learned the meaning of "...he knows when you are sleeping he knows when your awake he knows when you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake!" and they know I mean business- I won't be guilted into giving them presents if they misbehave ESPECIALLY Christmas. And you know what, I even told them that Santa told me I couldn't give the gifts to you.

I actually had a friend of mine call pretending to be "Santa" that year. He asked the children why they were being naughty, and did they know what that meant. They were stunned to get that call. He told them they would have to be good for a whole week to get their presents and if they didn't he'd come by while they were sleeping and take them back. They were the best behaved kids ever that week. It may have been drastic but I think it was necessary. They are 8 and 10 now and turned out to be great kids. They remember that Christmas but they don't think I was mean at all, even when they found out that Santa was a fictional character, they understood why I did it.

You see what people don't realize is that those song truly impact my kids, most kids don't even really listen to them, they rarely sing along to them after their 8, mine do, mine have assigned real value to the words in those songs, and I made that happen by being a bit strict. You should try it, believe me after 20 years of hearing that song you will be very tired of it, because it has no meaning other than being the same old Christmas song, but my kids, they love these songs, they probably will for many more years to come than I did (I hated them around 12 years old, although my creative brain loves change and can't stand routine).

The gifts actually have real meaning this way too. My eldest god daughter is 10 and remembers that year, she said it actually made sense and when she opened her presents after a week of being good (that was the deal I made) they realized the gifts were more than just a bribe, in fact they saw the gift not as an expectation but as something they got because they deserved it. Because I loved them enough to not allow them to open an empty promise. I believe in spoiling my kids around Christmas, I also have buffer for a certain amount of "childhood badness" Christmas puts kids into this daze and excitement, they are going to be a bit hyper, especially if you give them the candy canes! But I will not tolerate disrespect not even around the holidays.

Without all that Christmas realm around them they actually could break out of the spell and see why I bought them what I did (a week after Christmas when they could open them), things that meant something to them, not just random toys. I told them why I got them, it was actually quite magical. The other parents of family members heard the story and melted, I actually got many of them on my side although on Christmas day they were furious about my "punishment".. I just believe that they should not be spoiled brats who get the wrong idea about Christmas. Allowing kids to be disrespectful and still giving them the Christmas get out of jail free cards is what starts them down the path to commercialization of Christmas and the death of the true Christmas spirit.

Do you think they think I'm the mean daddy? Nope... My kids have a lot of respect for me, because I'm fair, and I don't mess around, when I say something, when I sing a song, I don't just sing it, or say it. You can bet they were angels the next Christmas by the way... I got pictures :)

Realize that two weeks after Christmas the tree is still up, the house is still adorned by Christmas stuff, and yes their is still egg nog in the fridge so they didn't miss Christmas as the other parents perceived, they experienced it more personally as a family, and because they were good. Family values seems to be lacking a lot these days but I refuse to see my family fall victim to the greed of Christmas or the bad behavior that many parents "let slide" because of Christmas. It's not a right, its a privilege. I also teach them that giving a gift is only something they have to do if they truly want to.

People have become dislodged from the true meaning of Christmas (by that I mean the true fairytale that launches a thousands ships of an amazing wealth of happiness), and have turned this once amazing holiday into a commercial and obligation fest. The current state of Christmas is proof that the media, the commercial industries, are truly and remarkably turning people into sheeple, and are setting the real concepts of what is real and what is accepted truths.

This hub is not a negative hub, it will be informative, don't mistake my views as yours what I believe is what works for me and my family. This hub is for my kids when they get older to read and for my family members to read, I hope others get something from it... this is the consolidation of many years of contemplating Christmas, I hope you enjoy it.

Without further a due, Let's get started on this Journey of Christmas past, present, and future. You are about to read how Christmas was truly invented by Coca Cola, not Jesus, by big business, not a magical guy named St. Nicolas, although St. Nicolas was a real live person... well I won't spoil the ride below... so on with the show!

I have some good news and some bad news for you. Let's start with the bad news.

Commercialization of Christmas

The truth about Christmas is that the commercial industries, the corporate powers that be, Invented Christmas and they will always try to yeild their creation to control people's spending habits.

They are using your weakness for attention, for acceptance, and for greed to control you to the point where you go out every year and blow more money than you were supposed to buying presents for people you didn't even think deserved them, why? Because you didn't want the rest of the family to think you were cheap, or you didn't want your kids to think you didn't love them.

There are certain things about Christmas that will never change for me and it's not about being grumpy, it's about knowing the truth about Christmas and actually, ironically, it’s about trying not to lose the spirit of Christmas in all the chaos most people suffer around Christmas because the marketing companies have them all whipped out of shape! People are being manipulated to become greedy because it serves all those companies selling things to make sales.

The marketing companies work for the corporate powers, remember that. They do not have your best intrest at heart, they have theirs (corporations)... In the end YOU pay the corporations by buying all that stuff, but they pay the marketers with your money... Your in essence paying the marketers to manipulate you and they know it.

What I'm going to tell you in this hub should open your eyes, You can substantiate all my claims here with a little research, but once you realize the truth, you should realize that Christmas is not supposed to be about greed.

This hub is not meant to be negative, it's not going to be me bashing corporate america, It's about you learning the truth of what Christmas Spirit really means and how to take back your life, your Christmas, and get back to enjoying Christmas.

Truly YOUR in control but you don't know it...

Your probably too wrapped up in what others think of you to step outside the box and break out of the prison. When a bunch of your peers believe one thing and you believe something else, it's very difficult to convince them of your belief... ask any jury where 9 believe the guy is guilty and one doesn't.

The marketers don't own you, they don't do anything but influence you, it's up to you wheather or not to let them. I took back my christmas 5 years ago and all those fears of people thinking I was cheap, or thinking I'm a grinch, they did come to pass for the first year, but then something magical happened, they all realized something I realized but had the balls to stand my ground on and teach them by example..

They realized that I was aware, and now they are aware too. Today I live the true Christmas spirit, and this hub should show you why, and how you become aware of why you may be stuck in the middle of a fight between your beliefs, your comfort, and your "Christmas Obligations".

You can't talk people into accepting reality, but by example you can show them the truth, people actually pay attention to you more than you think, but your trying to convince them that the commercial world is manipulating them and they are spending money out of some trance.. is like trying to convince little timmy that santa clause was invented by Coca Cola (and he was).

The Good News

Christmas Spirit is supposed to be about love, caring, compassion, a season to forget all your troubles, and realize that you are an angel that can help OTHERS with theirs, and someone will be there to help you with yours.

Christmas is the season of forgiveness, of unlocking doors that were always locked before, of seeing the bigger picture, a time when you can stop worrying and start caring, it has not a dam thing to do with shopping and Christmas lists, that is all commercial propaganda.

I will show you below how Christmas developed, the real Christmas story you won't find collectively in any book, although some CD's came out and "Biography of St. Nicolas" by the biography channel dug up the real information and showed it (this is where I learned it actually, and It was a true eye opener!). So let's get to it...

The Real Story of Christmas

I see Christmas as a commercial holiday in fact Christmas as we know it right now was propagated by the Coca Cola company, and the theme of turkey and "feasting" was actually started as a way to get the poor people in town to stop knocking on the wealthy's door asking them to come into the house to warm up.

A wealthy guy decided that he would try something new, be a bit of a philanthropist and resolve the irritating problem at the same time. To put the problem into perspective it is akin to the beggars on the street approaching you at stop lights spraying dirty water on your windshield then asking you to give them money, or worse being bombarded at the shopping centers on your way to your car where the mother sends her cutest youngest kid to panhandle to pull on your heart strings instead of manning up and getting a job to support her young.

I'm not trying to mock the holiday but this is the real deal like it or not. Knowing this you can actually think for yourself.

The rich guy who wanted to stop the poor from showing up in the winter to beg for food decided to give these poor families a turkey, turkey was cheap and could feed an entire family for a week actually, so it was the optimal choice. The deal was if the poor families would stay home on the 25th of December he would have a turkey delivered to their home. If they were not home they missed out.

For years this guy delivered the turkeys and a guy by the name of Chris cringle one of the delivery guys (to put him into perspective he was like the publisher clearing house prize patrol, the delivery guy of the "check" or rather turkey, only to win you just had to be home), decided to bring a spirit to the delivery, much like the PCH prize patrol does with the balloons’ and the big check.

He delivered the turkeys in a sleigh, although the sleigh was pulled by horses not reindeer, he had decorated the sleigh with bells to alert people that the "turkey" was coming, (no pun intended).

He would also dress up a bit but not like we see Santa these days. It was very cold below zero and this was in New York so of course they wore the snug fir coats and such.

This worked so well (giving the poor turkey to stay away and leave the wealthy alone) that they did it every year for quite a while. Coca Cola wanted to bank on this concept and decided to release it's first impression of "Saint Nicolas" in fact it was Coca Cola who invented the term "Santa Clause" and I suspect the "clause" was actually based on some legal term as the movie puns from (the movies with Tim the tool man tailor).

The tins were great collectors items and Coca Cola made a fortune jumpstarting the Christmas season we now know and love.. The thing many don't know is that the Santa clause character is actually a blend of several fables like Chris cringles all over the world, so the common themes between them were where Coca Cola came up with the stories.

Many also don't realize that the famous poem "Twus the night before Christmas" was actually created as a Coca Cola marketing tactic to make Christmas stories more believable, a marketing trick to really develop the realism of the Christmas spirit. I believe the poem was used in a commercial and on one of the tins as well, written by a guy they hired to draft a poem that made Christmas believable.

Later the religions decided to jump on the bandwagon and merge this powerful belief with their faiths by generating their own stories about Jesus and the biblical stories. The two merged and somehow Christmas became synonymous with December 25th and with the birth of Jesus (who was actually born 4 years earlier around July not December).

The term Christmas was propagated by the catholic church actually and means literally “Christ” “Mass”. We tend to over years merge the details and lose sight of the true meaning of terms and their associated themes… Now you know.

Sorry to burst your bubble but Christmas is a sham. But a lot of good did come from it.

I am not a Grinch, I'm a realist and I can appreciate the beauty in Christmas, it brings out the best in many, it is a necessary holiday, a great way to produce mass hysteria about an imaginary realm. The best lies are produced by half truths and half made up realms.

There really was a Chris cringle and the guy was amazingly warm hearted, although he was not the only he became the focal point of Christmas because the story of Chris was pretty amazing.

He never arrived in the middle of the night, he delivered the turkeys in daylight, he never broke into homes and left things in stocking, actually he did leave gifts in socks that were placed outside the home to air out but placed over the fire to dry after washing, stockings were actual socks worn by people.

The stories were created to make the realm more real and ironically they were not just created as stories in front of a fire, they were created in the many books, radio broadcasts and eventually in the television shows, commercials mostly jumpstarted the realm. With millions of commercials, and people reacting wonderfully to them the realm was crystallized, redundancy made it real, but then shows came out, books, and Christmas "back stories" were formed which really put people into a trance.

With so many stories that blend fantasy with real life situations it made people question the validity, could it be real? Is Santa clause real?

Then the tradition made up by the commercial industries of getting gifts came out and children got the gimmies.. but parents started telling stories of Santa clause to make it fun, before we knew it generations of kids grew up believing in Santa clause as if he were real, because parents made him real with the surprise gifts under the tree and relinquishing the responsibility for the gifts to this fable character!

Kids grew up believing that it was a myth, a story kids indulge in but it never left many peoples hearts as it was such a happy and wonderful theme, and time in their lives, reinforced for 10 years usually before they found out. Programs these days are so wickedly realistic that they even make adults who know better start to wonder... is he real? He is... In our hearts.. and their is nothing wrong with that, my parents told us at around 6 years old and I wish they didn't till I was ten but that's how it goes.

It's funny how so many "Miracles" that just happen to happen around Christmas get credit because of the Christmas season and make people question if Santa clause or the Christmas angels made them happen. The reality is that it is our faith in something, our believing in more, that spawns out of the feel good time of the year known as Christmas that empowers us.

We actually create our own miracles but we have no idea that it is our belief that made them happen, that opened that door to give us access to our magical powers of manifestation.

Religion will often use Christmas miracles or "god" to make us believe that we didn't produce the miracles, an outside force did but the truth is WE DID IT because even if for a moment...

We believed it was possible, whatever it was. It doesn't matter that what empowered us was some symbol, some belief in angels or gods, or even some magic of Christmas, the end result is the same, that was motivation, this was our using our powers to make it happen.

The thing about Christmas however that you have to realize is that it is a time when more people than ever believe in themselves, become less selfish, and more open to thinking about what others want. Selfishness is a cancer that traps and binds our powers. With so many people "unbound" by greed the miracles they experience are based on their true nature, powers, and abilities to set things into motion, to wish and see it manifest, to trust in things they can't see and know it will come through.

This mass hysteria of Christmas is the opposite of Halloween, where evil comes out for a day, Christmas is a month's time and it's expanding, where evil is locked up, and the world gets to experience their true powers, their true nature, they get to experience real life... the sad part is that the season and all the marketing unlocks it to sell toys, and gadgets, but once the season is over people stop believing, until next year... they somehow think the season and some outside magical force caused all the positive feelings, and confidence.. but it didn't it only gave people an excuse to be real, to think of others first, to enjoy their lives.

The symbols of Christmas are like sigils, symbols that evoke magical beliefs that remind them of their true power, but unfortunately people date the meanings of these things to only around Christmas, much like a witch will date a potion as being most potent around the full moon.

Christmas is an amazing holiday because it does so much, but I refuse to get caught up in the greed of it as many do. I don't buy presents out of some obligation to "get into the spirit of Christmas" I buy them because I want to, because I appreciate people who are in my life.

I don't buy them because I know they are going to buy me gifts, I tell people unless they absolutely want to not to buy me anything, and I give them permission not to by saying "I won't get you anything". I don't say it to be mean but if they do buy something, I will know they did it out of love, not obligation. Nothing feels more empty than to receive a gift because they felt they had to or you were on some list of theirs of people they didn't want to think they were cheap.

I buy gifts for those people who I tell I won't but only if I want to, I've had people think I was cheap, but that's exactly why those people didn't get anything from me. I didn't feel like it was me giving a gift, the true meaning of Christmas giving, like the guy delivering the turkeys... his gift was real, the rich guy who bought them, his was selfish... I refuse to be the wealthy guy who buys turkeys to appease people or to keep them out of their homes, I want to be the Chris cringle..

My philosophy is that if someone was a true friend to me throughout the year I'll definitely get them something to show them I appreciate them, I love them, and I don't put my hand out to see what they got me, I'm more of a giver than a receiver, I've grown to hate receiving gifts because most people are caught up in obligation and I don't need gifts like these. It's the thought that counts not the gift, and I'm not selfish so I don't even wonder if people got me anything. When I get something and look surprised, you can believe I am.

You can always figure out who those people who give gifts out of obligation or whom have no idea what Christmas gift giving is really supposed to be about, they are easy to spot. You give them a gift, out for the warmth of your heart, because you care, and they didn't get you anything (which you don't care about) and they feel terribly guilty and say "but I didn't get you anything" or they make a bunch of excuses as to how broke they were...

I really hate that..

just take my gift and enjoy it, see that I care, I gave because I wanted to not because I wanted you to give me anything... sheesh... but you can't change people unless they want to break out of the shell, often it takes a lot to crack it, but they alone own the chisel... Just once I'd like to give a gift to someone who didn't get me anything and hear nothing but, wow, for me? thank you (thank you not required, I love the smiles, the glow etc.. appreciation not feeling obligated to reciprocate!)

Now that I've gotten that all out of the way, I want to talk about those people who I do "exchange" gifts with and how this works for me. Honestly I'd love to go out and buy thousands of dollars worth of presents and give them to those people who truly deserve them, people who are selfless and like me do things because they want to not to try to promote themselves or gain status in others eyes.

The truth is I don't wait till Christmas to give gifts, I do it all year, I don't think that this should be limited to birthdays and Christmas. I love the look in someone’s eyes when I give them something they want. For some it's a rare pez dispenser, for others it's a CD burner, and for others it's a few kind words in a thought out card that let's them know you see them, appreciate them, and think about them.

To me a well thought out poem on a greeting card (that they hand wrote) is worth more than anything physical in existence. I'd rather hear the words I love you coming from the lips of someone I can't get enough of than to receive a million dollar check from the publishers clearing house.

I'd rather have friends than wealth, love than money, trust than power. I never write up a Christmas list because I tend to think that people who will buy me a Christmas gift will know me well enough to know what I need, not just what I want. I don't want a rogue Christmas gift from someone who had no idea what was important to me, I'd just end up taking that gift back and buying someone I know loves coffee a starbucks coffee card. The gifts I want, and will keep are the ones that let me know the giver thought of me, not themselves.

I have a roommate who's husband bought her a full set of power tools! She doesn't use power tools, she doesn't even fix things, he does.. guess who used the tools? This is an all too familiar thing.

Christmas should be the most exciting holiday of the year but it's become way to commercial to be fun (for most, my family actually enjoys it because we don't indulge in the myth of greed at Christmas being necessary) It is a season that should be shared with people you love, it's a vulnerable time when you can be vulnerable, because you show others you trust them, love them, and appreciate them. It's a time when the best thing you can get for Christmas is happiness, not presents. Remember this last thing before I close this hub/article...

If you give someone a gift, the true gift should be them realizing that you cared, and know them well enough to get them something that shows them that. You don't buy gifts that will make them selfishly feel obligated to like you, or things that will make them enjoy the gift but forget who gave it to them years later.

The gift should be very personal, it should invoke in them an awareness that you do listen to them, you care about what they are about, and the true gift is not the present they unwrap, its the awareness they unfold. The unwrapping of the present is supposed to signify the aha moment of someone's true feelings for you (caring, loving, enjoying your company, listening to what you say, what you love, what's important to you etc..).

The hallmark of a real selfless gift realizes that the gift is just a means to an end, it is just the paper you wrote the loving words on, an expression of something intangible that you felt. The real gift is a file transfer from your heart to theirs. To test this think about if that person you bought that present for were to give it to someone else, if they were to rewrap the present in a box with a bow and give it to someone they cared about, would you get mad?

If you do, then the gift was tangible, it was not personal, because the very concept of the gift cannot be re-gifted, or given away, it is so personal it is with them always, giving the gift you gave them away only signifies they have the same feelings for others, or they want to express their feelings for someone too, and if they did you should not be mad, you should realize that they have a warm heart too.

The exceptions of course are pictures of you, something like a ribbon from your wedding anniversary etc.. but an everyday present that is meant to say, hunny I got this to show you that I think your amazing like a mirror or something, should be able to be given away if they want, because the real present was your saying I love you, not the mirror itself.. get it?

Happy Holidays and I hope you and yours have a REAL Merry Christmas...

Jerrico

p.s. I'm building a site to decode ALL of the holidays (under construction) you can take a peak here: Decode The Holidays (.com)