Christmas has always been a mixed bag of blessing and nausea for me. I love the family time and traditions. Yet I hate tradition for tradition sake when it seems to be excess. The gift giving thing in many American homes, including my family, has gotten out of hand. It's like we just can't help ourselves sometimes. Consumerism takes over and we spent lots of money for no good reason. Over the past couple of years, I have tried to cut back on Christmas gifts choosing to look at discount places, shop before and after Christmas and limit who I buy for. One side of my family has chosen to pick names this year versus the obligatory little gift to everyone.
There is an even more radical approach though. What would happen if I just didn't give anyone anything? As a way to boycott consumerism and the misuse of Christ's birth for marketing purposes, what if I just took everything back and instead gave them a card or a personal poem? What if I decided to say "No" this year to the unspoken pressure to be part of the Christmas zoo?
It's not that I hate Christmas or want to be the Grinch. No, I just don't like how Christmas seems to be about the wrong priorities these days. More stuff and more debt are not the way of life that Jesus modeled out to us. Many of the goods we buy at Christmas are bargains that come at a high price. As consumers push for lower and lower prices, more and more people are working for less and less around the world. Some of those items we buy at Christmas are made by children and people imprisoned for their faith, especially in countries like China. I think about that as people debate about the use of Christmas in retail marketing campaigns versus the phrase "Happy Holidays." Would Christ even want his name associated with Christmas since it has become a season of excess and decadence, especially in the West?
Would Jesus support a simple Christmas based on family, community and giving gifts for the right reasons? Keeping up with the family down the street does not seem like the most pure motives. What about helping the family across town that has nothing to put under the tree? As I write tonight, I find my conscious pricked by my own consumer tendencies. I am no better than anybody else when it comes to the rampant gluttony present in America.
Gifts are a good thing. But somehow our own appetites have turned them into a mess where people fight at malls and get trampled as shoppers jam stores for the elusive best buys.
My friend, Kevin Strait, turned me onto a site which encourages people to think about the real meaning of Christmas. It definitely stirred my interest and caused me to take a second look at something I knew never really felt right in the first place. Give it a look and see what you think.
http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/index.html
This year, I am giving gifts. But I am looking to keep it simple and have enough money left over to give unexpected gifts to those who really need them. I am focusing on giving things that have a message associated with them or a godly purpose. Also, I am praying about my gift giving and involving God more in my shopping sprees.
It's kind of funny. Everyone always much such a big deal about Christmas gifts, but when I come to think of it, the most memorable and meaningful gifts in my life have come at others times of the year when I didn't expect it. Those presents showed me that I was on the person's heart and mind. The fact that I got a gift at a fairly random time was the biggest surprise of all.
