Through the years as Christmas neared, people began to change. The frenzy of "I have to go shopping for Christmas," then the questions of have you done your shopping became a litany. Every year I watched the many changes that once marked the preparation for the coming of the birth of Jesus. We used to see decorations heralding the coming celebration. I remember it was quite a joy to go out as a family to see lighted displays of mangers, (creches), and many various lighted houses. Now what should be the lighting of the way to "Bethlehem" is a journey to Alice in Wonderland, with many displays of cartoon characters. The symbolism of Christmas is gone, along with the whole aspect of gift giving. People now have gone over board with who can get the biggest most expensive gift out there to sooth their guilt. The gift has become a symbol of a payoff that children associate with all year long. The value no longer is there that should they receive an apple for a gift, it would not be appreciated. When we no longer value or appreciate the small gifts how will we be able to receive the small gifts that our Lord gives in abundance. All that we have taught our children is the value of getting large and expensive gifts. So during their life what will they expect from our Father, large expensive gifts? Don't we know that God does things in small ways? Have we ever once thought of what gift we are offering our heavenly Father each time we shop? What type of gift would we offer Him? Do we even think of that when we shop, after all it his birthday we are celebrating as Catholics, Christians. Would he approve of most of what we spent so much time and aggravation getting for a moment in time that somewhere lost its true meaning? Unfortunately greed is rampant, so we all have fallen in with the evil of this world, and took the Birth of our Lord and turned it into a mockery. It must make the devil quite happy knowing that he is in his large ways, pushing all of us to forget about Christ. God Bless