ves a sigh of
relief, as if to say, now he is off my mind!

Poor woman, she does not know what it means to give herself with her
gift. She is missing one of the essentials of the true joy of Christmas
Day. Indeed, if all her gifts are given in that spirit, she is directly
contradicting the true spirit of the day. How many of us are
unconsciously doing the same thing because of our--habit of regarding
Christmas gifts as a matter of conventional obligation.

If we get the spirit of giving because of Him whose birthday it is, we
shall love to give, and our hearts will go out with our gifts,--and
every gift, whether great or small, will be a thoughtful message of
love from one to another. There are now many people, of course, who
have this true spirit of Christmas giving, and they are the people who
most earnestly wish that they had more. Then there are many more who do
not know the spirit of a truly thoughtful gift, but would be glad to
know it, if it could once be brought to their attention.

We cannot give in a truly loving spirit if we give in order that we may
receive.

We cannot give truly in the spirit of Christmas if we rush and hurry,
and feel strained and anxious about our gifts.

We cannot give truly if we give more than we can afford.

People have been known to give nothing, because they could not give
something expensive; they have been known to give nothing in order to
avoid the trouble of careful and appropriate selection: but to refrain
from giving for such reasons is as much against the true spirit of
Christmas as is the hurried, excited gift-making of conventionality.

Even now there is joy in the Christmas time, in spite of the rush and
hurry and selfishness, and the spirit of those who keep the joy alive
by remembering whose birthday it is, serves as leaven all over the
world.

First let us remember what Christmas stands for, and then let us try to
realize the qualities of the great personality which gave the day its
meaning and significance,--let us honor them truly in all our
celebrations. If we do this, we shall at the same time be truly
honoring the qualities, and respecting the needs of every friend to
whom we give, and our gifts, whether great or small, will be full of
the spirit of discriminating affection. Let us realize that in order to
give truly, we must give soberly and quietly, and let us take an hour
or more by ourselves to think over our gifts before we begin to buy or
to make th