I heard a Marketplace segment on Tuesday titled Rethinking the idea of gift giving featuring Joel Waldfogel, author of Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays. The book is featured in George Will’s column (Strib reprint today), The gift of not giving: Another huge, value-destroying hurricane is about to slam America.
And then today I see that a former family therapist colleague, Bill Doherty, is featured in this Strib article titled Church movement aims to reclaim Christmas: More and more congregations spend Black Friday rethinking consumption. Bill was a featured guest in an NCO online forum I moderated back in ’97 titled Building cohesive family.
The protest against Christmas consumption, organized by the Advent Conspiracy, has become an international phenomenon. The program, created by three pastors in 2006, is being presented this year in as many as 1,500 churches, including several in the Twin Cities.
When Christ was born, He was a gift to us. When the Wise Men visited baby Jesus, they brought gifts of incense to honor Him. We emulate and honor that story when we bring gifts to people we love and admire. Hopefully the gifts are things that bring joy, within the means of the giver, and appreciated by the receiver.
That’s one side. Then comes the slippery slope where people give because they won’t be loved unless they do, and people demand certain items or else, or when people go into deep debt and have to work extra jobs to spoil others, NO! That’s too much.
I drew the line a long time ago and yes, I have a couple of relatives who don’t care for me, but I have more friends that will last a life time because they know the score, religious or not.
Don’t forget to put the story of Christ in Christmas and you can’t go wrong, Christians.
I just went to the Scroogeonomics link and nearly blew out my speakers that were set half way…so watch out!
As for the rest of you… Happy Holidays!