All I want for Christmas is you....

The Christmas song, All I want for Christmas is you, was just playing on the radio. What a wonderful thought that is...that there could be one special person who would be enough - totally enough - to make our holiday. Voila! Done! Our holiday is complete because that one special person fills our needs, our wants, and satisfies us enough that we need, or want, nothing else.
While the song's sentiment is sweet, it misses the mark because the Reason for the Season is often buried under so much tradition (Heaven forbid we add a new ingredient to Grandma's stuffing recipe), seeking to satisfy or be satisfied, or even the once a year compulsion to be charitable, that we, even while aware the holiday does exist because of the Reason, we let ourselves be sucked into the Wind Tunnel we call Christmas and be swept along in it.
It is important to remind ourselves that Christmas was not instituted by Jesus, so if we wanted it to be a purely secular part of our life, that wouldn't be a mortal sin. Perhaps the sin is to pretend he is front and center when he isn't.
I have always had a difficult time with singing "I surrender all" on command.  Is that possible on a human level? Personally, I don't think so. What if it means we put our cell phones in a drawer, and check our Bibles during the day (or night) like we do our cell phones. Or, if it meant giving up Starbucks or our favorite TV fixes. Or shopping... Or, gossip... Or, that friend who affects us like a pretty pink drink with an umbrella in it.
All I want for Christmas...what do I want for Christmas? In actuality, I want to be gathered with family, a few special friends, and be allowed to be a little sad, remembering back to those who are no longer with us, and when I could say Merry Christmas without wondering if it might offend someone . I want to be aware of my blessings; so aware, in fact, that it humbles me.  I want to give each of those I love a small piece of myself that far outshines any gift; something that is personal, deep, thought provoking, and kind; and I want them to always remember it, because the rest is temporal. And, that shining piece of me that I give away, may it be aglow because of the anointing of the Spirit who indwells me and knows that deep down all I really want is Him.
Jesus, I know even as I say it that in my humanity I will fail, but all I want for Christmas is You. And, because he is who he is, the blessings will come...