Some anti-materialism posts
December 23rd, 2005 | by mbhunter |There is so much pressure this time of year to shop, shop, spend, spend, charge, charge. I used to just get totally overloaded with all of the input, freeze up until December 24th, and then go to one store on December 24th to shop for almost everybody. The gifts were sometimes pretty generic and I felt a little bit guilty giving them because I hadn’t put the appropriate amount of thought into them.
On top of this, the people that I was buying for didn’t need the stuff I was giving them! I eventually started getting consumable things so that they would use it before they would t have to dust it or try to pawn it off somewhere.
This year (and probably last year) I’ve been telling others that I don’t need anything, that I’m already blessed with more than I deserve, so don’t feel obligated to send things. If I do buy for someone, I buy a gift and make it something that I know they’ll use.
Another way to put this time of year in perspective: Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus (Luke 2) and as such it’s His birthday party, not ours! Some members of our church have used the money that they would have spent to go spread the Gospel in Mexico. And last year, my mother-in-law told us to take what we would have spent on gifts for her and my father-in-law, and donate it to their church. In giving to His glory, we lay up treasures in heaven rather than on earth (Matthew 6:19-21).
I’ve assembled some posts from other bloggers dealing with holiday season materialism:
Five Cent Nickel talks about the art of re-gifting.
A less materialistic holiday season? Can it be?! Consumerism Commentary chats about a study that talks about this.
Stop the insanity! Or at least stop the urge to shop more, as Momma and The Boys hopes to do.
Crab Casa of Love has an article on how one family resists holiday materialism and greed.
Some are indifferent to the whole experience.
Chris at Busy Scenes thinks that the perfect gift doesn’t exist at stores, but that we already have it.
These are just a few of many, so if you run across more, leave a comment!
3 Responses to “Some anti-materialism posts”
By Flexo on Dec 23, 2005 | Reply
Thanks for the mention!
By lpkitten on Dec 23, 2005 | Reply
i agree! one of my pet peeves is when people complain about christmas shopping. the holidays should be a time of joy, not about stressing out about what you have to buy someone. the spirit of gift giving becomes defeated as soon as it becomes a chore. thank you for reminding us of this!
By FMF on Dec 23, 2005 | Reply
Well said!!!!