Glenn Beck: I wish I had realized THIS about Christmas much EARLIER

If you’re a parent, you may have wandered into the stage of life where all of your children are no longer gathered around your Christmas tree on Christmas morning — and Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck is no stranger to this stage.

“You pine for the days when we were all together,” Glenn says, before recalling his best and worst Christmases.

“I remember I was broke, dead broke. Stu, he was, like, 18 years old, and he’s living in an apartment. He’s got a nicer apartment than I did. We lived in the same complex. I was, like, 35 or 40. And I just was completely broke,” Glenn recalls.

“I was with my daughter, and we were in a CVS, and she was there by the cash register, and there was this little ornament. ... It was a little teeny tree ornament. And she’s like, ‘Oh, that is so nice.’ And she was little little. And I thought, ‘Oh.’ ... It just broke my heart because all I could think of is, ‘I can’t even afford that. I’m such a loser as a dad,’” he continues.

However, this was not Glenn’s worst Christmas.

“My worst Christmas was the first time I had real success, and I decided, I’m going to buy everything I ever have ever wanted for my kids. And literally the boxes were almost up to my waist. I mean, I had all the kids and all the presents and everything you could possibly want,” Glenn explains.

“And it was so empty. That was my worst Christmas. And my kids never talk about that Christmas. Never,” he says.

“Somewhere along the line, we let that lie creep in, and we bought into it — the lie that says what I give is what you’re worth. That lie is absolute poison, and it’s absolutely not true,” he continues.

“You think that your kids are counting boxes, and quite honestly, teenage years, they might be. They might be. But they grow out of those. You just put up with the teenage years. They’re coming. They suck. They go away. They’re not counting boxes; they’re not looking at labels. ... They’re counting on you,” he adds.

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