If you're like me, it seems like people make way too big a fuss about Christmas.

Seems to me, getting together with family or friends should be enough for most anyone.

If, by chance, I happen to get a pair of socks or gloves, that's just gravy to go with the Christmas goose.

Really, the best gifts I've ever received have come from the heart.

Used to be we got gifts that we really needed. Stuff like coats, shoes, etc.

Then again, I've always wanted to take a holiday off and do some traveling; somewhere warm, perhaps.

One of the things on my "to-do list" before I die is to go to the Great Barrier Reef and swim with the dolphins - or the sharks, or something.

I guess I, like a lot of other people, have tried to connect some sort of cosmic significance to the holidays.

Cosmic, in the sense of something other than the obvious.

But when you think about it, Christmas should be about giving. Not giving in the monetary sense, but giving of one's self.

Maybe one of the best gifts we can give to those around us is the gift of time.

Take the time to share a part of your life with your loved ones, kids especially.

If you fish, share what you know about fishing. Or, if you are like me, share what you don't know. That's a much longer list.

If you hunt, take your kids with you when you go out. Now, I know that hunting is not everyone's bag, but there are other things to do on a hunting trip without pulling a trigger.

One of the neatest things I've ever seen while out hunting I watched through the pickup window.

We were goose hunting on a chilly November morning, the sun up just enough to see a few hundred yards off the centerline of the gravel road.

Dad threw the old Econoline in neutral, pulled it down in the ditch and turned off the ignition.

Off to my right were two pronghorn bucks sparring over a doe that was contentedly grazing in the remains of an alfalfa field.

With nary a breeze in the air, the sound of them colliding hung in the autumn air for what seemed like an eternity.

We sat there for what seemed like an hour and watched something many people never get the chance to witness.

After the show was over, I don't remember if any of us, my dad, younger brother or me, said a word.

All I can remember thinking was, "Wow."

We even might have shot a goose or two that day. Honestly, I don't remember.

What I do remember, though, is that I got to watch it with my dad and my brother.

Your kids will remember, too.

q q q

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."

- Albert Schweitzer

(Reach reporter Brian Gehring at 250-8254 or brian.gehring@bismarcktribune.com.)