Christmas is coming, and ads are everywhere. My social media feed is full of gift suggestions that make me wonder who they think I’m buying gifts for this year.

I pause to look at a video of a child wearing a wearable shark blanket, and I hesitate. Surely, I don’t need anything like that myself. But does someone else in my life? They come in children’s sizes—and adults’ too? Really?

I click away, but wait! There is a bird feeder with a camera installed inside. I could watch birds arriving at my feeder on my phone throughout the day! Imagine! Does my father need that? My nephew? I scroll on past.

Still, regardless of whether I click on the ads, the gift ideas keep coming. There are socks and Catholic items—and religious socks, as well. There are specialty foods and notebooks with witty sayings on them. There are Bigfoot T-shirts. There are wolf-tracking bracelets. There are sweet little overpriced—but delightful—printers. And there’s a six-foot stuffed goose that pops into my feed from time to time.

I do wonder what life would be like with a six-foot stuffed goose.

Some of the ads make me laugh, and I screenshot the funniest ones and text them to friends and family. No one needs any of these items. It might be easy to dismiss the whole Christmas-shopping season as materialistic and wasteful—and to say that it gets in the way of the real reason for the season.

I like to see it a little differently. I believe we can keep Christ at the center of Christmas and still shop for presents. I like to see the shopping as part of loving people in our lives.

We search for gifts for loved ones because we want to make them happy. We long to connect with them—and deepen that connection. We want to see that smile on Christmas morning—and perhaps days later when they wear the sweater we gave them or play with the toy we found.

Yes, I can show my love for people in many ways—but there is nothing like a tangible sign through a gift. I like to discover just the right present for someone to celebrate who they are, something to mark our friendship. Sometimes that’s a joke gift. Sometimes it’s incredibly personal. Sometimes it’s useful. Sometimes it’s edible or consumable. Sometimes the present might miss the mark. But when it is just right, it can bring such joy.

As we begin Advent and the beautiful season leading up to Christmas, I hope we can enjoy the beauty of the search. It might be the search for the right gifts to put under the tree. It might be the search for ways to make time for the people we love. It might even be the search for time away from all the advertising hoopla and a little more quiet and peace.

As Advent begins, we begin a beautiful journey with an invitation on how to choose to spend this time—regardless of how many stuffed geese we might buy. During this season, may we give ourselves the gift of participating in the most important search of all—the search to see how we can be Jesus to others, the search for our Lord and Savior who will be born anew in our hearts, and the search to experience his love in a new and wondrous way at Christmas.

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