For so many of us, Christmas is usually a season of joy and spending time with loved ones. For Detroit Pistons guard Avery Bradley, Christmas was not a time of the year that he originally looked forward to.

In a recent exclusive interview with Rod Beard of The Detroit News, Bradley opened up about his rough upbringing and why he wasn't the biggest fan of Christmas.

“We probably had one or two Christmases with a Christmas tree — but there were only one or two gifts,” Bradley said. “I was never a fan of Christmas. Christmas was a time where you get all the stuff you want — and I never really experienced that.”

When Bradley was an elementary school student, his mother Alicia Jones and his father Avery Bradley Sr. got a divorce. This made Bradley and his three older siblings move in with their single mother in Texas, as they had to be able to transition from a middle-class lifestyle to one that is much less fortunate.

However, despite their struggles as a family, Avery Bradley's mom always preached a mentality of putting others before yourself to her children.

“If you ask anybody about my mom, she would give everything away,” Bradley said. “If we bought some cereal and that was our one box and somebody at the church needed it, she was giving that cereal away. That’s just how she was. We’re all the same way, without even knowing it.”

Tragically, Jones passed away in 2013 at the age of 46 because of a massive stroke, but the Pistons guard continues to pay tribute to his mother by giving back to his community.

“(Helping others) was something instilled in me and I enjoy giving back. We used to be mad as kids because we had nothing and my mom would be giving stuff away,” Bradley said. “We were raised in the church and my mom’s thing was that God’s going to bless us. Don’t worry about it; you’re supposed to always give.”

That's what it's all about. Way to go, Avery. We need more people in this world who also share your generosity.