Lovely post, especially as you managed to put in words a lot of emotions I have at this time of year.

Your point on reflection for example, I find myself using that word all the time in this period. I don't know if it is the end of calendar year with everyone auditing the last one, or the fun around Christmas, or the lovely weather and holidays. Whatever it is I end up extremely reflective in this last couple of weeks of the year.

Completely agree about the impact of gifts for us. In our childhood, thanks to tighter wallets, kids got new clothes on their birthdays and for the various festivals like Diwali, Christmas etc. So we used to look forward to the festivals as it was indeed special as people would get a bonus at those times. So even stuff for the home was purchased then. Now with more buying power, as well as ease of ecommerce one can just buy whatever they want all year round and the only gifting left for adults is the funny ones like Secret Santa.

And finally the point around how kids get excited with gifts and how one can never be sure what really brings that gleam in their eyes is spot on.

Great post reflecting a lot of my thoughts. In my case I need to channel some of my learnings in the right direction before next year so that will be my agenda this week. fingers crossed I will be ready for the new year.

Thank you for sharing these thoughts which helped me spend even more time with my own. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.