Monday, December 24, 2007

"The Making of a Stress Free Christmas"

It's Christmas Eve and I'm not the least bit stressed....why, because for the first time in my adult life, my family and I decided to resist the Christmas propaganda and just celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. This came to be when my 19 year old told me several weeks ago that he would prefer that we not buy him anything for Christmas. I thought my 23 year old, being a female, would beg to differ, but, she followed suit. They both agreed that we should spend our time and money on the lonely, the heartbroken, and those that need to know they are loved. So....that said, no long lines for me in the shopping malls, no scramble to find the perfect gift, no maxing out the credit cards! Now, before you think I'm critical of those who do go "all out" for Christmas, know this, I've been where you are when my children were younger. For many years Christmas was out of control at our house. I would not start Christmas shopping until late November or early December, would max out every credit card I had and even obtain some more to max out during my shopping, would make sure the gifts were bigger, better, and shiner than the year before....it would be like a high. Then January would roll around and the credit card bills would roll in and I would vow to save my money before the next Christmas and to start Christmas shopping in June (only to repeat the cycle the next year)...
Christmas became a dreaded time of year for me!
If you've never got caught up in this trap, I commend you....if you are caught up in this vicious cycle, I encourage you to stop the madness and teach your family about the true meaning of Christmas.

In the Bible , Luke Chapter 2 tells us the story of the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Hope you and your family have a blessed Christmas Season!

2 comments:

Seann said...

Sue, I have to agree with what you have to say. For so long, I too have been plagued with this overwhelming sense of materialism. I hope that more people will read this.

P.S. Please tell me you're single!

Signed,

S.O.S.

Sashasweetie said...

You are great at blogging! Your message is so true. It is ironic that this has been the best Christmas ever because everyone in my family are too broke to go crazy like usual. It really has allowed the younger children to take a "time out" to appreciate the things they have. Materials and non-materials.

Sasha