Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Andrew Meuleners Column – 12/10/21



It’s that time of year, it’s the Christmas season.

All the shopping, the gatherings, and happy people. The endless Christmas music playing in your car, in your house, in the shopping centers. The Christmas plays, the Christmas concerts, and the Christmas pageants.

Christmas decorating the outside of your house, the inside of your house, your church, and even in your office. Christmas, Christmas, and more Christmas.

The thing is that as joyous as this season is, it always seems to cause me a tremendous amount of stress. I am not sure when the change happened.

I know that when I was a kid, I loved Christmas. I loved everything about it. I loved helping my mom and dad get ready for Christmas. Putting up the tree, helping mom bake (eat) Christmas goodies, helping my dad put up Christmas lights.

I loved putting out the nativity set and talking about the story of Jesus’ birth. I liked going shopping for presents and of course I liked making my list, and checking it twice to see if I had all of the things that I wanted from the “big man.”

I remember I would categorize and prioritize the list, so that he understood what was something I really wanted, and what was something I merely dreamed about but really didn’t expect to get.

Then somewhere in the middle of my late teen years and becoming a full-fledged adult my outlook on Christmas changed. I started getting embarrassed about receiving gifts or even asking for gifts from people, especially my parents.

I started to feel guilty that they would spend money for things that I simply wanted and possibly didn’t really need.

My parents have worked hard for their money, they provided for me and my brothers, they tried to give us everything, and at some point it just hit me that I didn’t get joy from receiving gifts any more from the two people in my life that gave me everything already.

My mom especially loves Christmas. She always works really hard to put on that perfect Christmas for us. The house is always decorated, the food is perfect, the presents are amazing and she always, always makes sure that everyone is happy.

Another reason I feel tremendous amounts of guilt is because my mom rarely asked for anything for herself, and so many times she gets the short end of the stick on the present side.

I do feel bad about not being excited about wanting gifts. My wife thinks I am impossible to buy for, and I am pretty sure that everyone else in my family feels the same way.

The last few years I have started asking for practical gifts, things that I can share with other people. My thinking is that if we all can use the gift, then I don’t have to feel as bad about it. So I ask for things like gift cards to places, subscriptions to services, and things of that nature.

On the other hand, I love giving gifts, and seeing people open gifts. I love seeing the joy that they get when you give them something they didn’t expect.

I realize that what I have written here focuses a lot on presents and it seems like our family is only concerned about giving things to each other. That’s not it at all.

What I am trying to say is that I have seen my parents go way beyond being generous this time of year. For years, they have been giving to others.

Giving to charities, Toys for Tots, thinking about other people before themselves. Growing up, I learned that Christmas is about Jesus being born and giving us the ultimate gift. He selflessly was born on earth to save us.

One of the most important things that we did and still do in our family is going to Christmas Eve Mass and celebrating the birth of Christ.

I think that at some point that sunk in a little bit more for me, so I have a tendency to find Christmas a little stressful with all of the gift buying and expectations that are put on to people during this time. I also understand that it has become a necessity of sorts because we are celebrating a tremendous occasion, and that it’s human nature to take things to the extreme.

The last couple of years have taught me that I love my family, and that I value the time we get to spend together. They have taught me that at any point all of that can be taken away very quickly.

I now feel like I can willingly put up with all of the other stuff and still stay true to who I have become as a person.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays.








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