He is the Gift

This Christmas has a different feel than most.

It's the first Christmas Hunter and I are spending together as husband and wife.

It's also the first Christmas season I have been away from my family members back home.

Hunter served a 2 year LDS mission so he is a bit more used to this than I am.

I'm missing picking out the tree with my dad. A tradition that's always been ours.

I'm missing wrapping the the presents my dad gets for my mom and placing them under the tree.

I'm missing the houses a few streets away from my parents that synchronized their lights to the music on the Christmas radio station.

And, I'm missing going to the mall with my mom and picking out the things I want for Christmas.

Though I do miss these things... I am of course loving being able to watch Christmas movies with Hunter, seeing lights in a whole new city, and starting traditions of our own.

Both Hunter and I loved presents growing up.

Our parents both gave pretty generous Christmases and we have very fond memories of Christmas morning. 

This year we are newlyweds, we are expecting a baby in February, Hunter is going to school full time and playing college football not on scholarship.

That being said... we don't have all the money in the world to buy fancy gifts for each other, or very many small ones.

Though we both are excited to go back home for Christmas and we are grateful that our parents are generous enough to still give us gifts, like I said before, it's just a little different this year.

This year, the excitement hasn't been focused on the presents we are going to receive.

This year has been focused on the real meaning of Christmas.

The birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I've always known that that is the real reason why we celebrate this season.

It isn't about the jolly fat man in a red suit, or the lights outside, the gingerbread houses, or the new sweater under the tree. 

But this year, it has been a whole lot easier to focus on the real meaning of Christmas rather than the commercialism that comes along with it. 

Yes we are still watching Christmas movies, our home has decorations up, and we have gotten a few small gifts for each other... but like I said before, the feeling this year is different.

In a good way.

Because "Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store... maybe Christmas perhaps, means a little bit more."

I am so incredibly grateful for the gift that is our Savior, for his infinite atonement, and for the joy I feel knowing that he loves me.