By late November the interiors of the malls have completely changed. They’re covered in signs displaying the hottest deals, and the Christmas music is blaring in my ears. There are crowds of people lined up outside every store, their arms covered in shopping bags. Even if I manage to get into a store, I’ll probably find it to be a huge mess of clothes littered everywhere, and people are just scooping it off the ground and into their bags.

To me, the term, ‘holiday shopping’ brings up the idea of a lady running down the aisles of Target in a panic, and pulling down anything that seems giftable. Her cart is overflowing and things are pouring out covering the red bull’s-eye logo. And she refuse to leave the store because she can’t find the latest edition batmobile. Sure, you could think… “Wow, she must really care about the person who likes batman. She’s trying so hard for that gift!” But instead she could be spending this time at home with her family.

I get it, times have changed, from spending moments together to finding the most unique gifts for each other. Our mindsets have changed so much that we now hold legos, American girl dolls, and x-boxes more dear than a human being. We feel our only way to convey our feeling is through gifts. We’ve become too materialistic, especially when it comes to the holidays. So let’s change that this holiday season and spend actual time with our families, instead of spending that time present-hunting for them. We need to get back to our values of love, not objects.